Electronic Navigation and Litigation: The View from the Bench, the Counsel Table, and the Jury Box
Electronic navigation systems such as GPS, Electronic Chart Displays ("ECDIS"), and Automatic Information Systems ("AIS") record a wealth of data about a vessel's movements and status in the moments before an accident. Indeed, the Voyage Data Recorder ("VDR") was specifically designed to collect data from various on board sensors for use in accident investigations. As a result of this capability, electronic navigation data is now frequently presented as evidence in the litigation that often follows maritime accidents. (View PDF to read the rest of this article)
This article by Alan M. Weigel, of counsel at Blank Rome, is one in a series of articles written for Blank Rome Maritime's quarterly Mainbrace newsletter. To view the other articles in the January 2013 edition of Mainbrace, please click here.