US Sailors Suit Over Japan Crash Denied Fifth Circuit Review

A Japanese transport company won’t be roped into federal court to face claims related to a ship collision that killed seven US sailors in Japanese territorial waters, a divided Fifth Circuit held on Tuesday in an en banc ruling.

Bereaved and injured individuals sued Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha after the ACX Crystal, a foreign cargo ship NYK chartered, crashed into a US Navy destroyer in June 2017. The US District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana dismissed the two separate cases for lack of personal jurisdiction.

In a consolidated appeal, a panel for the U.S. Court of Appeals for ...