NACDL Update – Jan. 21, 2009
On Tuesday, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit upheld the jury conviction of Defendant-Appellant Ionia Management S.A. in the matter of U.S. v. Ionia Management S.A. (07-5801-cr, 08-1387-cr) for “violat[ion] of the Act to Prevent Pollution on Ships by failing to ‘maintain’ an oil record book while in U.S. waters as required by 33 C.F.R. § 151.25.” NACDL was an Amicus Curiae in this case submitted with several co-amici.
The Second Circuit rejected NACDL’s argument that assignment of vicarious corporate criminal liability through the application of the civil law doctrine of respondeat superior, in which an employer may be held for wrongful actions of his employee in some circumstances, was authorized neither by statute nor precedent. Read the Second Circuit’s decision in Ionia. NACDL Past President Irwin H. Schwartz represented the Defendant-Appellant in this appeal.
Additional discussion by the National Law Journal.
