The Lloyd’s List Podcast: Magic pipes and whistleblowers

Recent litigation in vessel pollution cases resurfaces the dillemas faced by companies and the seafarers they employ. Under US law, crewmembers who bring forward information that leads to a successful prosecution in a vessel pollution case are entitled to up to half of the fine levied on the guilty parties. The US has awarded tens of millions of dollars to whistleblowers throughout the years, while also collecting more than a quarter billion dollars from polluters. Perhaps the most famous of these cases in recent times was Prince Cruise Lines' sentence of $40m. More recently, former chief engineer was sentenced to a year and a day in prison for deliberately discharging oily waste off Louisiana’s shores and taking actions to obfuscate the discharge. He also retaliated against the whistleblower who alerted the coast guard. To shed more light on this nuanced issue that surely keeps some shipmanagers up at night, Tomer Raanan, our senior reporter in New York, spoke with two legal experts, who you could say have diverging opinions on the matter. Stephen Kohn is one of the leading whistleblowing attorneys in the US, a partner in the Washington DC law firm of Kohn Kohn and Colapinto, and the founder of the National Whistleblower Center. George Chalos is a principal and founding member of maritime law firm Chalos & Co. He has extensive experience in maritime, admiralty and insurance law.