Court Opinion

ID: 9413725
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-01 23:20:47.935095+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T16:46:28.008795
License: Public Domain

JERRY E. SMITH, Circuit Judge,
dissenting:
I respectfully dissent. It is disappointing that the Louisiana Supreme Court declined to entertain the certification, as that court is in the best position to construe the statute at hand. This is a close question, and the majority engages in quite a respectable analysis, reaching a result that is not unreasonable.
The majority correctly observes that companies engaged in offshore oil exploration operate in different capacities that are governed by wholly different bodies of law. I would treat the different capacities as separate and distinct entities under the Oilfield Indemnity Act, as the purposes of the act are not served by denying indemnification for Forest Oil’s defense costs incurred in its capacity as platform owner, a capacity in which it is indisputably free from fault.