Law 360 has this Expert Analysis-Opinion piece by Troy McMahan, Joe Akrotirianakis, and Andrew Stakelum at King & Spalding, about the split between the Fifth Circuit and the Ninth Circuit about whether merchant seamen can recover punitive damages for the common law claim of unseaworthiness.

We reported on the split when the Ninth Circuit issued its opinion in Batterton v. Dutra Group.

The defendant’s cert. petition in Batterton is pending before the U.S. Supreme Court and is on the list for the Court’s November 30 conference, according to the online docket.