The U.S. maritime and offshore sectors face a sea of change brought by two recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions that could signal far-reaching impacts of which industry stakeholders should take note. The Chevron doctrine was established in the landmark 1984 Supreme Court decision of Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council and was relied upon in over 18,000 judicial opinions over the past 40 years to grant federal agencies deference on their interpretation of their statutory authorities. Federal courts used the Chevron doctrine to defer to an agency’s reasonable interpretation of an ambiguous statute under a two-step analysis: 1) whether Congress directly spoke to the precise question at issue and, if not, 2) courts will defer to an agency’s interpretation if it is based on a permissible construction of the statute.
Now, the winds have shifted via the Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo (Loper) decision, which overturns Chevron and, thus, expands the judiciary’s power to “exercise independent judgment” in reviewing interpretations of ambiguous statutes interpreted by federal agencies. In other words, the interpretation of ambiguous federal law will lie with judges as the primary arbiters in administrative-based admiralty and maritime matters rather than the reasonable interpretation by federal agencies. The Loper decision will be particularly impactful for the maritime sector, which relies on statutes established a long time ago – sometimes more than 100 years – and modern interpretations of its application in the modern world.
The Loper decision stated that the holdings of prior cases that relied on Chevron remain intact under stare decisis (meaning to “stand by things decided”). However, the Supreme Court also decided Corner Post v. Board of Governors, which held that a claim accrues when the plaintiff suffers injury, not when the agency issues its regulation, so old decisions upheld under Chevron based on stare decisis could be reopened if a new harm occurs to a plaintiff based on an old regulatory interpretation. Therefore, the combined impact of Loper and Corner Post means that maritime regulations where there is a continuing harm are subject to a new review based on the “best interpretation” of the statute.
LINKS
Read “Looper Bright Takes to Sea,” co-authored by Joel E. Roberson, published by Maritime Reporter & Engineering News.