Salt Mine’s Insurance Questions Head to Louisiana Supreme Court

The Fifth Circuit certified two questions to the Louisiana Supreme Court on whether the Louisiana Oilfield Anti-Indemnity Act applies to nullify contractors’ indemnity agreements related to drilling for minerals since neither the appeals court’s nor state law precedent indicated clear answers.

Though the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit held in Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Corp. v. Transportation Insurance Co.that the law requires the agreement “pertains to a well,” a footnote showed the rule “is not as absolute as it seems,” Judge Stephen A. Higginson said.

After an electrician died at one of Compass Minerals Louisiana Inc.'s ...