Court Opinion

ID: 9965116
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2024-05-01 18:00:37.45829+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T08:24:43.110013
License: Public Domain

Case: 22-30758       Document: 59-1     Page: 1    Date Filed: 05/01/2024

         United States Court of Appeals
              for the Fifth Circuit                         United States Court of Appeals
                                                                     Fifth Circuit
                            _____________                          FILED
                                                                May 1, 2024
                             No. 22-30758
                                                              Lyle W. Cayce
                         consolidated with                         Clerk
                             No. 23-30021
                           _____________

Kholkar Vishveshwar Ganpat,

                                                        Plaintiff—Appellee,

                                   versus

Eastern Pacific Shipping PTE, Limited, doing business as EPS,

                                        Defendant—Appellant.
               ______________________________

               Appeal from the United States District Court
                  for the Eastern District of Louisiana
                        USDC No. 2:18-CV-13556
               ______________________________

Before Dennis, Engelhardt, and Oldham, Circuit Judges.
Kurt D. Engelhardt, Circuit Judge:
      Defendant-Appellant Eastern Pacific Shipping Pte., Limited
(“EPS”), a Singaporean ship management company, appeals the district
court’s choice-of-law ruling that the claims asserted by Plaintiff-Appellee
Kholkar Vishveshwar Ganpat (“Kholkar”), an Indian citizen, are governed
by United States law—the Jones Act and general maritime law. Kholkar’s
claims arise from his having contracted malaria in Africa while working as a
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member of the crew of a Liberian ship that EPS manages. We REVERSE
and REMAND.
                                            I.
        In May 2017, Kholkar, an Indian citizen, contracted a serious form of
malaria while in Africa.1 At that time, he worked as a crew member aboard
the M/V STARGATE, a Liberian-flagged ship owned by non-party Larchep
Shipping, Inc., a Liberian company, but managed by EPS. EPS, an interna-
tional ship management company, is incorporated in Singapore and has its
principal place of business there. Kholkar blames EPS for his having con-
tracted malaria, which ultimately caused him to suffer gangrene and amputa-
tion of several toes, as well as hospitalization for 76 days. Specifically, Khol-
kar contends that EPS (1) failed to adequately provision the M/V STAR-
GATE while it was in port in the United States, despite knowing that the ship
lacked sufficient antimalarial medication for its upcoming voyage to Gabon,
a coastal country in Africa where the risk of contracting malaria is known to
generally be high; and (2) failed to dispense appropriate prophylactic antima-
larial medication to the ship’s crew before, during, and after the vessel’s time
in Gabon.
        Contending that EPS owned and/or operated the M/V STARGATE,
and was his “borrowed employer,” Kholkar filed this suit against EPS in De-
cember 2018. Alleging negligence, unseaworthiness, and that “EPS has will-
fully and wantonly failed” to promptly provide/pay maintenance and cure,
Kholkar seeks relief under the Jones Act and the general maritime law of the
United States. He also asserts a contractual claim for disability benefits pur-
suant to Article 24 of the “TCC Collective Agreement” between the
        _____________________
        1
          Malaria is most often transmitted to humans bitten by a certain type of mosquito
that has been infected by a malaria-causing parasite. Kholkar’s malaria was caused by the
Plasmodium falciparum parasite.

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International Transport Workers’ Federation and EPS, which relates to and
is made part of Kholkar’s “Seafarer’s Employment Agreement” with Vent-
nor Navigation, Inc., a Liberian company.
       EPS challenges Kholkar’s invocation of United States law, emphasiz-
ing that (1) Kholkar is a resident and citizen of the Republic of India; (2) EPS
is incorporated under the laws of the Republic of Singapore with its principal
place of business in Singapore; (3) Kholkar’s claims arise out of his service
to, and EPS’s management of, a Liberian-flagged vessel owned by a Liberian
corporation, Larchep Shipping, Inc.; and (4) Kholkar’s employment contract
with a Liberian company, Ventnor Navigation, Inc., was signed in India, and
contains a provision stating that the “[a]greement shall be governed by and
interpreted in accordance with the laws of the state of ships [sic] flag aboard
which the [s]eaman is employed,” i.e., Liberia.2 Furthermore, adds EPS,
Kholkar contracted malaria while in Africa, became symptomatic as the ship
sailed from Owendo, Gabon (Africa) to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (South Amer-
ica), and was hospitalized in Brazil before returning to India. Thus, the only
connections between the United States and this lawsuit are (1) Kholkar’s
choice of forum; (2) EPS’s alleged failure to replenish the M/V STAR-
GATE’S antimalarial medications—while the ship was in port in Savannah,
Georgia—before it sailed to Barranquilla, Columbia, and then Owendo, Ga-
bon; and (3) EPS-managed ships’ frequent travel to/from American ports.
       The district court initially deferred making a choice-of-law ruling, rea-
soning that “development of the facts [was] necessary.” Following discov-
ery, however, the parties filed five motions for summary judgment based
upon and requiring a choice-of-law determination. The district court
       _____________________
       2
         See Kholkar’s “Seafarer Employment Agreement” at ¶ 25. The ship aboard
which Kholkar was employed, the M/V STARGATE, is registered in and flies the flag of
Liberia.

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concluded that the law of the United States (the Jones Act and general mari-
time law) governs Kholkar’s tort claims and claim for breach of the collective
bargaining agreement. See Ganpat v. Eastern Pacific Shipping Pte., Ltd., 642 F.
Supp. 3d 524 (E.D. La. 2022). 3 This interlocutory appeal followed.4
                                            II.
        In circumstances where multiple nations have a connection to a mari-
time tort, international maritime law “attempt[s] to avoid or resolve conflicts
between competing laws by ascertaining and valuing points of contact be-
tween the transaction and the [nations] whose competing laws are involved.”
Lauritzen v. Larsen, 345 U.S. 571, 582 (1953). “The criteria, in general, ap-
pear to be arrived at from weighing [] the significance of one or more con-
necting factors between the shipping transaction regulated and the national
interest served by the assertion of authority.” Id.
                                            A.
        American courts determine whether maritime claims are governed by
the law of the United States (the Jones Act and general maritime law), rather
than the conflicting law of a foreign nation, utilizing the factors outlined by
the Supreme Court’s decisions in Lauritzen v. Larsen; Romero v. International
Terminal Operating Co., 358 U.S. 354 (1959); and Hellenic Lines Ltd. v. Rhodi-
tis, 398 U.S. 306 (1970). These factors, which have become to be known as
        _____________________
        3
           In September 2021, Kholkar amended his complaint to add a claim for “an
intentional general maritime law tort” arising from a lawsuit that EPS and its Indian
subsidiary, Eastern Pacific Shipping (India) Private, Ltd. (“EPS India”), had filed against
him in India. According Kholkar, the Indian suit amounts to “deliberate and malicious
efforts to intimidate [him] from seeking legal redress” in the United States. The district
court concluded that the law of India governs that claim. 642 F. Supp. 3d at 541–42. That
ruling has not been appealed.
        4
          The district court certified its choice-of-law rulings for interlocutory appeal,
pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 1292(b), and ordered that the case be stayed pending resolution of
the appeal. 642 F. Supp. 3d at 543–44.

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the “Lauritzen–Rhoditis factors” are:
        (1) the place of the wrongful act; (2) the law of the flag; (3) the
       allegiance or domicile of the injured worker; (4) the allegiance
       of the defendant shipowner; (5) the place of the contract;
       (6) the inaccessibility of the foreign forum; (7) the law of the
       forum; and (8) the shipowner’s base of operations.
See Rhoditis, 398 U.S. at 309; Solano v. Gulf King 55, 212 F.3d 902, 905 (5th
Cir. 2000). Lauritzen identified the first seven factors in 1953. Seventeen
years later, the Supreme Court added the eighth factor, in Rhoditis, explain-
ing that the list of seven was not intended to be exhaustive, and the totality of
the circumstances must be considered. See Rhoditis, 398 U.S. at 309 (“[T]he
shipowner’s base of operations is another factor of importance . . . and there
well may be others.”).
       This test “is not a mechanical one in which the court simply counts
the relevant contacts.” Fogleman v. ARAMCO (Araan Am. Oil Co.), 920 F.2d
278, 282 (5th Cir. 1991). To the contrary, the analysis is guided by the prin-
ciple that “[t]he purpose of a conflict-of-laws doctrine is to assure that a case
will be treated [i]n the same way under the appropriate law regardless of the
fortuitous circumstances [that] often determine the forum.” Lauritzen, 345
U.S. at 590. Thus, “each factor is to be weighed to determine whether all
the factors add up to the necessary substantiality of contacts between the
transaction at issue and the United States.” Solano, 212 F.3d at 905 (citing
Rhoditis, 398 U.S. at 309 n.4).
       And certain of the Lauritzen–Rhoditis factors “may be substantial in
one context” and “of lesser importance in another.” Chiazor v. Transworld
Drilling Co., 648 F.2d 1015, 1018 (5th Cir. 1981), overruled on other grounds by
In re Air Crash Disaster Near New Orleans, La. on July 9, 1982, 821 F.2d 1147
(5th Cir. 1987); see also Solano, 212 F.3d at 906; Coats v. Penrod Drilling Corp.,
61 F.3d 1113, 1119 (5th Cir. 1995). Accordingly, “the significance of each

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factor must be considered within the particular context of the claim and the
national interest that might be served by the application of United States
law[.]” Fogleman, 920 F.2d at 282.
       Finally, a proper evaluation of the Lauritzen–Rhoditis factors requires
an understanding of their background and the evolving maritime contexts in
which they are applied. As we explained in Solano, “[t]he Supreme Court
developed [the Lauritzen–Rhoditis] factors in cases involving vessels engaged
in commercial or maritime activities that traveled the high seas, passing
through territorial waters of more than one nation.” 212 F.3d at 906. Because
“the virtue and utility of sea-borne commerce lies in its frequent and im-
portant contacts with more than one country,” Lauritzen, 345 U.S. at 581,
“the weight accorded the choice of law factors in the context of those cases
was dictated by the international nature of the vessels’ regular activities, the
fortuity of the location of the plaintiffs’ alleged accident or injury and the
need to establish a uniform, consistent law onboard a ship that traveled
through waters of more than one sovereign nation.” Solano, 212 F.3d at 906–
07 (citing Chiazor, 648 F.2d at 1019).
       Over time, however, the application of the Lauritzen–Rhoditis factors
has extended to claims arising from nontraditional maritime activities, e.g.,
offshore drilling operations, in which neither the “seaman nor the vessel was
engaged in traditional, blue-water maritime activities crossing through waters
of competing nations.” Solano, 212 F.3d at 907.5 For this reason, our cases
recognize that the significance of the factors may vary when considered in the

       _____________________
       5
        In this context, “blue water” typically refers to the “open ocean” whereas
“brown water” refers to inland waterbodies and coastal waters.

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context of nontraditional maritime activities rather than the traditional mari-
time shipping context in which the Lauritzen–Rhoditis test arose.6
                                               B.
        In this instance, the maritime context in which Kholkar’s injury claims
arose is unquestionably that of traditional maritime shipping. At the time he
contracted malaria, Kholkar served as a member of the crew—an able sea-
man7—of a seafaring vessel, the M/V STARGATE, that regularly transports
cargo across international waters between the ports of various sovereign na-
tions situated in diverse locations across multiple continents.8 And his claims
challenge the adequacy of the ship’s provisions for these voyages. That is,
he asserts that he contracted malaria, while in Gabon, Africa, because his ship
lacked an adequate supply of antimalarial medications for sailing in areas
where the crew’s risk of contracting malaria is high. Finally, Kholkar’s
claims are asserted against the ship’s manager, who allegedly was responsible
for ensuring that the ship had adequate provisions.

        _____________________
        6
           See, e.g., Jack L. Albritton, Choice of Law in a Maritime Personal Injury Setting: The
Domestic Jurisprudence, 43 LA. L. REV. 879, 895 (1983) (discussing work on mobile offshore
drilling rigs, such as jack-up and semi-submersible rigs, and work done on special offshore
construction vessels such as derrick barges and pipelaying or offshore tug and supply
vessels servicing oil rigs).
        7
         Kholkar’s expert’s report indicates that Kholkar served as a member of the ship’s
deck department.
        8
          In this instance, after Kholkar joined the ship’s crew at the end of December 2016,
the M/V STARGATE traveled from Casablanca, Morocco, to Las Palmas, Spain, and then
to the Ivory Coast of Africa, specifically, Abidjan, and then to Amsterdam, The
Netherlands, before arriving in Savannah, Georgia, on April 2, 2017. After leaving
Savannah on April 7, 2017, the M/V STARGATE traveled to Barranquilla, Columbia (to
load cargo), and then to Gabon, Africa (to discharge cargo). After ten days in Gabon, the
ship sailed to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where Kholkar was hospitalized, and then to Veracruz,
Mexico.

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       In the context of traditional maritime shipping activities, the first Lau-
ritzen-Rhoditis factor—the place of the wrongful act—generally is of “mini-
mal importance” in cases involving an injured seaman’s claims arising from
a shipboard tort. Quintero v. Klaveness Ship Lines, 914 F.2d 717, 722 (5th Cir.
1990) (citing Lauritzen, 345 U.S. at 583). Otherwise, “the shipowner would
be subjected to varying law based on the fortuity of the ship’s location at the
time a shipboard tort occurs.” Id. at 723. See also Fogleman, 920 F.2d at 282
(place of wrongful act is accorded little weight in traditional maritime cases
in which the locality of the ship changes constantly). Thus, despite knowing
that “ships often spend time in port and that ports are subject to the territo-
rial claim of the sovereign, the [Supreme] Court [has] concluded that mari-
time law requires a standard that minimizes the significance of location in
cases of shipboard torts.” Id. (citing Lauritzen, 345 U.S. at 583–84); see also
Lauritzen, 345 U.S. at 583 (“The test of location of the wrongful act or omis-
sion, however sufficient for torts ashore, is of limited application to shipboard
torts, because of the varieties of legal authority over waters she may navi-
gate.”).
       In contrast, the second factor—the law of the flag—“is generally of
cardinal importance” in the context of traditional maritime activities.
Solano, 212 F.3d at 905–07; see Lauritzen, 345 U.S. at 584 (“Perhaps the most
venerable and universal rule of maritime law relevant to our problem is that
which gives cardinal importance to the law of the flag.”). The “law of the
flag” refers to the law of the nation in which the ship is registered. As stated
in Lauritzen, “[e]ach state under international law may determine for itself
the conditions on which it will grant its nationality to a merchant ship,
thereby accepting responsibility for it and acquiring authority over it.” 345
U.S. at 584. And that “[n]ationality is evidenced to the world by the ship’s
papers and its flag.” Id. The heightened importance generally given to the
law of the flag has roots in pragmatism, stability, predictability, and

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international comity. Id. at 585. Thus, “the flag that a ship flies may, at
times, alone be sufficient” to determine which nation’s law applies. Rhoditis,
398 U.S. at 309 (citing Lauritzen, 345 U.S. at 585–86). 9
       But, because shipowners sometimes register their ships in countries
other than their own, and nations have an interest in “governing the conduct
of [their] own citizens upon the high seas or even in foreign countries,” the
fourth factor—the allegiance of the defendant shipowner—also is signifi-
cant.10 Lauritzen, 345 U.S. at 587. Also a result of foreign ship registrations,

       _____________________
       9
           As articulated in Lauritzen:
       Some authorities . . . apply the law of the flag on the pragmatic basis that
       there must be some law on shipboard, that it cannot change at every change
       of waters, and no experience shows a better rule than that of the state that
       owns her. It is significant to us here that the weight given to the ensign
       overbears most other connecting events in determining applicable law. As
       this Court held in United States v. Flores, [289 U.S. 137, 158 (1933) (quoting
       Mali v. Keeper of the Common Jail, 120 U.S. 1, 12 (1887)] . . . :”
              And so by comity it came to be generally understood among
              civilized nations that all matters of discipline, and all things done
              on board, which affected only the vessel, or those belonging to
              her, and did not involve the peace or dignity of the country, or
              the tranquillity of the port, should be left by the local government
              to be dealt with by the authorities of the nation to which the
              vessel belonged as the laws of that nation, or the interests of its
              commerce should require. * * *
345 U.S. at 585–86 (internal quotation marks omitted).
       10
            The Lauritzen Court explained the rationale for this factor as follows:
       A state is not debarred by any rule of international law from governing the
       conduct of its own citizens upon the high seas or even in foreign countries
       when the rights of other nations or their nationals are not infringed. Until
       recent times this factor was not a frequent occasion of conflict, for the
       nationality of the ship was that of its owners. But it is common knowledge
       that in recent years a practice has grown, particularly among American
       shipowners, to avoid stringent shipping laws by seeking foreign
       registration eagerly offered by some countries. Confronted with such

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the eighth factor—the shipowner’s base of operations—“[i]s another factor
of importance” in deciding whether United States law applies. Rhoditis, 398
U.S. at 309–10.11 Indeed, in Rhoditis, the Court attributed more significance
to the Greek shipowner’s American base of operations, coupled with the
American locale of the plaintiff’s injury,12 than the ship’s Greek ownership,
registration, and flag. Id.13
        The third factor—the allegiance or domicile of the injured person—
also bears consideration insofar as “each nation has a legitimate interest that
its nationals and permanent inhabitants be not maimed or disabled from self-
support.” Lauritzen, 345 U.S. at 585–86. Thus, though “during service [to
a ship] under a foreign flag some duty of allegiance is due,” an injured

        _____________________
        operations, our courts on occasion have pressed beyond the formalities of
        more or less nominal foreign registration to enforce against American
        shipowners the obligations which our law places upon them.”
Id. at 587 (internal quotations and citations omitted).
        11
         In the choice-of-law context, the “base of operations” refers to the location from
which day-to-day operations are controlled. Fogleman, 920 F.2d at 284.
        12
          The plaintiff in Rhoditis was injured while aboard ship in the Port of New Orleans.
398 U.S. at 307–08.
        13
           The Court explained: “We see no reason whatsoever to give the Jones Act a
strained construction so that this alien owner, engaged in an extensive business operation
in this country, may have an advantage over citizens engaged in the same business by
allowing him to escape the obligations and responsibility of a Jones Act ‘employer.’” Id. at
310. Thus, “the facade of the operation must be considered as minor, compared with the
real nature of the operation and a cold objective look at the actual operational contacts that
this ship and this owner have with the United States.” Id. The Court emphasized that more
than 95% of the corporate shipowner was owned by a United States domiciliary/Greek
citizen who managed the corporation in New York and that the ship’s entire income was
from cargo either originating or terminating in the United States. Id. at 307.

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seaman’s nationality is weighed against that of the ship when the two differ.
Id. at 586.
       When the claim at issue sounds in tort, rather than contract, the fifth
factor—the place of contract—generally is not a “substantial influence in the
choice between competing laws[.]” Id. at 588–89; see also Romero, 358 U.S.
at 383 (“the place of contracting is largely fortuitous and of little importance
in determining the applicable law in an action of marine tort”). And, while
acknowledging the sixth factor—the inaccessibility of the foreign forum—
Lauritzen clarified that it generally “is relevant only to a forum non conveniens
determination, not to a choice-of-law analysis.” Fogleman, 920 F.2d at 283
(citing Lauritzen, 345 U.S. at 589–90).
       Lastly, the seventh factor—the law of the forum—is given “little
weight.” Id. (citing Lauritzen, 345 U.S. at 590–91). Thus, “[t]he fact that the
law of another forum may be more or less favorable to a plaintiff . . . does not
determine choice of law.” Id. at 284; see also Salono, 212 F.3d at 907 (that
application of United States law would provide the plaintiffs a more generous
recovery is not a valid consideration in the choice-of-law analysis).
                                       C.
       Considered in the context of this case, involving traditional maritime
shipping activities and assertions of wrongdoing yielding a seaman’s “ship-
board injury,” none of the Lauritzen-Rhoditis factors that the Supreme
Court has deemed significant to the choice-of-law determination in tradi-
tional maritime shipping cases involve the United States. Specifically, the
law of the flag factor, which generally is “of cardinal importance” in the tra-
ditional maritime shipping context, points to Liberia. Of course, the law of
the flag does not always prevail, particularly when, as the Court explained in
Lauritzen and Rhoditis, a ship’s country of registration differs from its coun-
try of ownership and/or the shipowner’s base of operations. Here, however,

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unlike in Lauritzen and Rhoditis, the shipowner is not a defendant to this ac-
tion. Rather, all of Kholkar’s claims are asserted against EPS, the ship’s man-
ager, which Kholkar alleges acted as the ship’s operator, de facto owner, and
his “borrowed employer.” But, if EPS is substituted in place of the “ship-
owner” referenced in factors four and eight, its allegiance and base of opera-
tions point to Singapore.
       The interests of the Republic of India are added to the mix by the third
and fifth factors—the allegiance or domicile of the injured person and the
place of the contract. On the other hand, Kholkar’s employment contract
(which is incorporated into the “TCC Collective Agreement” that is the ba-
sis of Kholkar’s disability benefits claim against EPS) includes a clause
providing that the “[a]greement shall be governed by and interpreted in ac-
cordance with the laws of the state of ships [sic] flag aboard which the
[s]eaman is employed,” which, again, is Liberia.14
       Thus, the only Lauritzen-Rhoditis factor that favors an application of
the law of the United States is the seventh factor—the law of the forum. As
previously noted, however, that factor typically is given “little weight” in the
choice-of-law determination. Fogleman, 920 F.2d at 283.
                                         III.
       Upon its consideration of the eight Lauritzen-Rhoditis factors, the dis-
trict court determined that it was left with “only two factors to resolve the
choice of law issue in this case: [the] allegiance of the [d]efendant (Singa-
pore) and [the] law of the forum (United States).” 642 F. Supp. 3d at 536–37
& n.87. In reaching this conclusion, the district court construed the first fac-
tor, the place of the wrongful act, to refer to the geographical location of the
plaintiff’s injury, rather than the geographical location of the alleged
       _____________________
       14
            See “Seafarer Employment Agreement” at ¶ 25.

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wrongful conduct. Id. at 531, 538. Thus, because Kholkar did not suffer symp-
toms of malaria until he was “on the high seas” of the Atlantic Ocean, i.e.,
not in the territorial waters of any of the countries involved here, the district
court decided that, in this instance, the place of the wrongful act factor has
no particular application. Id. at 532, 537.
       Though noting its usual importance in traditional maritime cases, the
district court decided that the second factor, the law of the flag, is
inapplicable here because the vessel’s Liberian owner is not a party to the
suit. Id. at 531–33, 537. The eighth factor, the base of the shipowner’s
operations, was deemed inapplicable for the same reason. With the fourth
factor, the allegiance of the defendant shipowner, the district court again
disregarded the vessel’s Liberian ownership, because of its nonparty status,
but decided EPS’s allegiance to Singapore weighs in favor of applying
Singaporean law. Id. at 533–34, 537 & n.84.
       The district court recognized that the third factor, the allegiance or
domicile of the injured worker, points towards application of Indian law, but
gave it little weight. Id. at 533, 537 & n.84. The court reasoned that “this
factor is given little significance in traditional, blue-water maritime shipping
cases like this one where a seaman’s work, given its transient nature,
frequently takes him beyond the territorial boundaries of his place of domicile
or allegiance.” Id. at 533.
       The district court also concluded the fifth factor, the place of the
contract, does not apply in the context of Kholkar’s tort claim, while
emphasizing that Kholkar’s contract claim is against EPS, not his nonparty
employer. Id. at 534–37. Finally, the district court concluded that the sixth
factor, the inaccessibility of the foreign forum, has no choice-of-law
relevance, but the seventh factor, the law of the forum, favors application of
United States law. Id. at 535–38.

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       Despite acknowledging that the only Lauritzen-Rhoditis factor
favoring the application of American law—the law of the forum—“is often
not given substantial weight in the choice of law analysis,” the district court
concluded that it, “buttressed by [two] additional significant contacts[,] . . .
supports the application of United States law to [Kholkar’s] maritime tort
claims.” Id. at 537 n.87, 538–40. First, the district court emphasized the
American location of one of the allegedly negligent acts, as opposed to the
place of injury, specifically, EPS’s failure to replenish the ship’s supply of
antimalarial drugs while it was in port in Savannah, Georgia. Id. at 538–39.
The district court reasoned that “the United States has a substantial interest
in regulating shipboard behavior in its ports and ensuring that ships leaving
its ports are properly provisioned,” which “is a substantial connection that
tips the scale in favor of applying United States law.” Id. at 539. Second,
because “EPS-managed vessels, including the M/V STARGATE, made
hundreds of visits to U.S. ports during the time period surrounding
[Kholkar’s] injury,” the district court reasoned that the EPS “is not a ‘casual
visitor’ to the United States.” Id. at 539–40. “This connection,” the court
concluded, also “points toward the application of United States law.” Id. at
539.
       For a number of reasons, we disagree with the district court’s assess-
ment. As initial matter, the district court erred to the extent that it concluded
that the “law of the flag” and the “base of operations” factors necessarily
lack choice-of-law significance in cases where the shipowner is not a defend-
ant. The application of those factors and their significance must instead be
evaluated and decided in the context of the particular case before the court.
And, in traditional maritime shipping cases brought by an injured crew mem-
ber against a defendant who is alleged to have acted as the owner of the vessel

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                                     c/w No. 23-30021

and to have breached duties generally owed by the shipowner, 15 the law of
the flag factor maintains at least some significance.16
        Next, the district court attributed predominate significance to the
United States locale—Savannah, Georgia—of one of the allegedly negligent
acts resulting in the injury that Kholkar later suffered when he contracted ma-
laria in Africa and then became ill while sailing the “high seas” of the Atlantic
Ocean. In doing so, the district court erred. Although we agree that, in 1953,
when Lauritzen was decided, the first factor—the place of the “wrongful
act”—contemplated the place of the plaintiff’s injury, 17 it is clear that the
Court’s focus, in assigning it minimal choice-of-law significance, was the for-
tuity of location, not the speed at which negligent conduct resulted in injury.
See Lauritzen, 345 U.S. at 583 (“The test of location of the wrongful act or
omission . . . is of limited application to shipboard torts [] because of the va-
rieties of legal authority over waters she may navigate.”); Quintero, 914 F.2d

        _____________________
        15
          The full scope of services provided by EPS, pursuant to its contract with the
vessel owner, Larchep, is not clear on the record before us.
        16
           Our decision in Coats is not to the contrary. To start, the claims at issue there
arose in the context of nontraditional maritime activities, not traditional maritime shipping.
Additionally, the non-shipowner defendant (to whom the law of the flag had “no specific
application”) provided “repair and maintenance services to oilfield and marine vessels”
incidental to drilling operations; it did not act in the place of the vessel owner (as to whom
the court did consider the ship’s flag). And both defendants’ allegiances and bases of
operations were considered. Coats, 61 F.3d at 1119–21.
        17
            See, e.g., Restatement (First) of Conflicts §§ 377–380 (1934). Indeed, this court
has consistently found the place of injury, not the place of other alleged negligence is the
place of the wrongful act. McClelland Engineers, Inc. v. Munusamy, 784 F.2d 1313, 1319 (5th
Cir. 1986), overruled by In re Air Crash Disaster Near New Orleans, La. on July 9, 1982, 821
F.2d 1147 (5th Cir. 1987). In Lauritzen, “the place of the wrongful act” referred to the
geographic location where the “acts giving rise to the liability” occurred. 345 U.S. at 573,
582–83. There, “the tortious conduct occurred and caused injury in Cuban waters,”
specifically, the Havana harbor. Id. at 573, 582.

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at 723 (“maritime law requires a standard that minimizes the significance of
location in cases of shipboard torts”; otherwise, “the shipowner would be
subjected to varying law based on the fortuity of the ship’s location at the
time a shipboard tort occurs”); see also Solano, 212 F.3d at 906 (“the weight
accorded the choice of law factors . . . was dictated by the international nature
of the vessels’ regular activities, the fortuity of the location of the plaintiffs’
alleged accident or injury and the need to establish a uniform, consistent law
onboard a ship that traveled through waters of more than one sovereign na-
tion”). Thus, we disagree that the minimal choice-of-law significance that
Lauritzen otherwise assigned to a seafaring ship’s location at a given point in
its travels would substantially increase simply because all of the acts leading
to that injury did not occur in the same place as the injury.
       In explaining the substantial choice-of-law significance that it gave to
the location of some of the allegedly negligent conduct, the district court
found support in decisions from other circuits. Id. at 538 & nn.92–93 (citing
Rationis Enterprises Inc. of Panama v. Hyundai Mipo Dockyard Co., 426 F.3d
580, 587 (2d Cir. 2005) and Cooper v. Meridian Yachts, Inc., 575 F.3d 1151,
1175 (11th Cir. 2009)). Neither of those cases, however, involved a “blue-
water” crew member’s claim against a vessel owner, operator, or manager
based on a shipboard tort. Thus, both cases are materially distinguishable
from this one.18 The same is true of this circuit’s decisions involving nontra-
ditional maritime activities in which the location of negligent conduct has had
significant choice-of-law significance. See, e.g., Coats, 61 F.3d at 1119–20 (cit-
ing Chiazor, 648 F.2d at 1019) (“[t]he place of the wrongful act, the alle-
giance or domicile of the injured, and the place of the contract, which are less
important in the shipping context, are more significant in nontraditional

       _____________________
       18
            Additionally, we are not bound by other circuits’ opinion.

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cases”); Solano, 212 F.3d at 904–07 (discounting the law of the flag and the
allegiance of the defendants, which favored United States law, and giving
more weight to Nicaraguan law, because facts of the case were more analo-
gous to operations on a fixed drilling platform than traditional maritime com-
merce); Fogleman, 920 F.2d at 282 (unlike in traditional maritime cases in
which the ship’s locality changes constantly, the “place of the wrong as-
sumes greater importance” when the injury arises from work on a perma-
nently situated offshore oil rig or work platform); McClelland Eng’rs., Inc. v.
Munusamy, 784 F.2d 1313, 1317 (5th Cir. 1986) ((“In cases in which the ‘ves-
sel’ is not a ‘true maritime vessel [—one plying the seas as an integral part of
the shipping industry—]’ but rather an ‘unconventional’ vessel, such as a
platform or rig, . . . the place of the wrongful act . . . take[s] on ‘added signif-
icance.’”) (quoting Chiazor, 648 F.2d at 1018–19)); Bailey v. Dolphin Int’l,
Inc., 697 F.2d 1268, 1276 (5th Cir. 1983) (fortuitous circumstances warrant-
ing less significance being given to the place of the wrongful act are not pre-
sent in offshore drilling context where operations are conducted in a more
permanent fashion).
       The district court’s choice-of-law analysis also emphasizes that EPS
is not a “casual visitor” to the United States.” Id. at 539–40. Absent an
American “base of operations” or other relevant, significant ties to the
United States, however, that “EPS-managed vessels, including the M/V
STARGATE, made hundreds of visits to U.S. ports during the time period
surrounding Plaintiff’s injury” likewise carries little choice-of-law signifi-
cance in the context of a maritime case involving traditional maritime activi-
ties. See Rhoditis, 398 U.S. at 309–10; see also Quintero, 914 F.2d at 723 (that
a ship operating worldwide called at United States ports did not, without

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more, support a finding of a United States base of operations).19 As explained
in Lauritzen, it is because “the virtue and utility of sea-borne commerce lies
in its frequent and important contacts with more than one country” that
“frequent and regular . . . commerce and contacts with the ports of the
United States” do not justify “applying our statutes to incidents aboard the
[defendant’s] ships.” 345 U.S. at 581. And, if the courts of each of these
countries “were to exploit every such contact to the limit of its power, it is
not difficult to see that a multiplicity of conflicting and overlapping burdens
would blight international carriage by sea.” Id.
        Lastly, Lauritzen also shows that the application of United States law
cannot be justified here simply because “ensuring that ships leaving its ports
are properly provisioned” is prudent, wise, or in the interest of the “greater
good.” Id. at 593. In fact, the Lauritzen Court rejected an argument that it
should apply the Jones Act “as a means of benefiting seaman” and enhancing
the competitive advantage of American ship operators,” explaining:
        Nor do we stop to inquire which law does whom the greater or
        the lesser good. The argument is misaddressed. It would be
        within the proprieties if addressed to Congress.
Id. Similarly, though policy reasons might here provide a valid basis for re-
sponsive legislation, international trade agreements, or agency regulations,
they are not determinative of the choice-of-law question before this court.
        As previously noted, “[t]he purpose of a conflict-of-laws doctrine is
to assure that a case will be treated [i]n the same way under the appropriate
law regardless of the fortuitous circumstances which often determine the fo-
rum.” Id. at 591 (emphasis added); see also Kriti Filoxenia Special Mar. Enter.
        _____________________
        19
            The record is unclear regarding the total number of ships that EPS managed in
2017. One document references 88 vessels with 34 of those reaching U.S. ports. Another
lists 56 vessels.

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v. YASA H. MEHMET Motor Vessel, 442 F. App’x 167, 169 (5th Cir. 2011)
(unpub.). Applying United States law here would achieve the opposite re-
sult, i.e., the substantive law governing the plaintiff’s claims would be deter-
mined solely by the fortuitous circumstance of the ship’s transient location at
a particular point in its travels. Thus, although the United States has the in-
terests identified by the district court, we must disagree that they “tip the
scale” in this case in favor of applying United States law.
                                      IV.
       Given our determination that Kholkar’s claims are not governed by
United States law, the next logical question is which country’s law does ap-
ply. The district court did not decide this particular question. Rather, the
focus of the district court’s inquiry was whether the United States’ connec-
tions with this action and its underlying facts were such that United States
law, as opposed to the law of a foreign country or countries (Liberia, Singa-
pore, and/or India), should govern Kholkar’s claims arising therefrom. How-
ever, the district court did narrow its focus to the United States and Singa-
pore. On appeal, Kholkar’s brief does not address the issue; rather, its argu-
ments simply urge the correctness of the district court’s determination that
United States law applies. EPS challenges the district court’s choice-of-law
analysis and requests that we direct the district court to apply Liberian law to
Kholkar’s tort and contract claims on remand.
       Because Kholkar’s employment contract contains a choice-of-law
provision selecting the law of Liberia, and the terms of that agreement are
incorporated into the contract upon which his claim for disability benefits is
based, we are convinced that Kholkar’s breach of contract claim is likewise
governed by the law of Liberia. With respect to Kholkar’s other claims, the
law of the flag factor, which points to Liberia, generally is “of cardinal im-
portance” in cases involving traditional maritime shipping activities. As we
note above, however, the law of the flag country does not always prevail. This

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is especially true where circumstances convince the court that the vessel’s
place of registration has been selected for the purpose of allowing the vessel
owner to avoid more stringent regulation than would otherwise apply. But, in
this instance, the only defendant, EPS, is not the vessel’s registered owner.
On the other hand, Kholkar alleges that EPS is the vessel’s operator and “de
facto” owner, as well as his “borrowed employer,” and has breached duties
typically owed by the vessel owner and the Jones Act employer.
        Were it necessary for us to determine whether the alleged circum-
stances of this case are such that the law of the flag’s usual preeminence
should be disregarded in order to decide whether Kholkar’s claims are gov-
erned by Liberian law, as EPS argues, rather than the law of Singapore or
India, we likely would leave these matters for the district court to decide upon
remand. Here, we do not, however, because Kholkar has not asserted, much
less shown, that the relevant portions of the law of Singapore and/or India
conflict (in his favor) with the law of Liberia. Thus, in this instance, we are
satisfied the law of the flag prevails. Accordingly, with the exception of the
intentional tort claim concerning EPS’s India lawsuit,20 Kholkar’s maritime
tort and contract claims are to be adjudicated under the substantive law of
Liberia.
                                             V.
        For the reasons stated herein, we REVERSE the district court’s
choice-of-law determination and REMAND for further proceedings con-
sistent with this opinion.

        _____________________
        20
          Because Kholkar did not appeal the district court’s choice-of-law determination
regarding that claim, the law governing it is not at issue in this appeal. See note 5, supra.

                                             20