Partner
Location
New Orleans, LA
Practice Areas
- Civil Litigation
- Construction
- Energy
- ERISA Litigation
- General Casualty Litigation
- Insurance Coverage
- Personal Injury
- Products Liability
Jurisdictions
- Louisiana
Howard L. Murphy joined Deutsch, Kerrigan & Stiles, L.L.P. in 1980, after spending seven years in broadcast journalism working as a news reporter for television stations in New Orleans, Louisiana and San Antonio, Texas.
Since that time, Mr. Murphy has developed a broad practice in the areas of maritime law, products liability, casualty litigation, insurance coverage, building design and construction, and fiduciary liability litigation.
Mr. Murphy has represented oil companies, drilling contractors, fixed platform operators, vessel owners, service companies, and oil field equipment manufacturers. He has defended actions brought under the Jones Act, Section 905(b) of the Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act, the Death on the High Seas Act, the general maritime law, and state survival and wrongful death statutes. Furthermore, he has handled numerous contractual disputes concerning indemnification, additional insured status, and the application of anti-indemnity statutes.
Mr . Murphy has participated in dozens of trials and has secured defense verdicts in at least three separate wrongful death cases. One involved a products liability claim brought against the manufacturer of a high pressure clamp used to test oil field equipment. Another concerned a collision on an inland waterway between a towing vessel and a recreational watercraft.
Other accomplishments that Mr. Murphy has achieved in maritime and oil field-related litigation include securing reduction of a $19 million plus judgment to $44,309, in a suit brought by a well operator against a drilling contractor for intentionally damaging an oil well in Massey v. Decca Drilling Co., Inc., 64 So.2d 1196 (La. App. 2nd Cir. 1994), and obtaining the acquittal of a drilling contractor from a personal injury claim, which clarified the standard for when a new trial should be granted under the Jones Act, in Smith v. Transworld Drilling Co., 773 F.2d 610 (5th Cir. 1985). Furthermore, Mr. Murphy litigated the constitutionality of whether a choice-of-law provision in a master service agreement can displace application of the Louisiana Oilfield Indemnity Act in Matte v. Zapata Offshore Company, 784 F.2d 628 (5th Cir. 1986).
In the realm of casualty and product liability litigation, Mr. Murphy has garnered numerous successes. He obtained the reversal of a $1.4 million judgment entered against an uninsured motorist insurer in Dupre v. Maynard, 692 So.2d 36 (La. App. 1st Cir. 1997). He successfully defended the validity of an uninsured motorist coverage rejection notice in Alford v. Woods, 614 So.2d 1299 (La. App. 3rd Cir. 1993), which allowed an uninsured motorist carrier to avoid a judgment on a bodily injury claim that exceeded $400,000. In Clark v. R.D. Werner Co., Inc., 2000 WL 66380 (E.D. La.), he successfully excluded plaintiff’s metallurgical expert from testifying at trial.
Additionally, Mr. Murphy regularly has defended architects, other design professionals and building contractors against personal injury and property damage claims. He secured the dismissal of a suit brought by multiple plaintiffs against a mechanical engineering firm for the alleged presence of mold and other neuro-toxins in a newly constructed university office building. He also secured dismissal of a suit against a mechanical subcontractor brought by a municipal worker who alleged multiple neurological disorders as a result of being exposed to hydrogen sulfide gas. In Merchants National Bank & Trust Co. of Indianapolis v. Smith, Hinchman & Grylls Associates, Inc., 876 F.2d 1202 (5th Cir. 1989), Mr. Murphy successfully defended an architectural firm against a multi-million dollar claim brought by an electrical sub-contractor in connection with the construction of a hospital.
Mr. Murphy also possesses considerable experience in the litigation of fiduciary liability claims brought under the Employer Retirement Income Security Act. In the past, he has defended fiduciaries of a major construction company and a major shipbuilding company against ERISA claims asserted in relation to the diversification of assets held by employees stock ownership plans.
Mr. Murphy has spoken on numerous occasions, including appearances before the Meeting of Invited Attorneys sponsored by Victor O. Schinnerer & Co., the American Corporate Counsel Association, the Greater New Orleans Business Roundtable, the Network of Trial Law Firms, and the New Orleans Bar Association. He is a contributing author to the "Construction Industry Insurance Handbook" in the areas of self-insurance and risk retention groups, which John Wiley & Sons, Inc. published in 1991.
Professional Activities and Honors
"Louisiana Super Lawyers" List, 2008, 2007
American Bar Association
-- Section of Litigation, Products Liability Committee
International Association of Defense Counsel
-- Products Liability, Casualty Insurance and Maritime Law Commitees
Defense Research Institute
Louisiana Association of Defense Counsel
Louisiana State Bar Association
Education
J.D., Loyola University, 1980
B.A., Communications, Loyola University, 1976
Since that time, Mr. Murphy has developed a broad practice in the areas of maritime law, products liability, casualty litigation, insurance coverage, building design and construction, and fiduciary liability litigation.
Mr. Murphy has represented oil companies, drilling contractors, fixed platform operators, vessel owners, service companies, and oil field equipment manufacturers. He has defended actions brought under the Jones Act, Section 905(b) of the Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act, the Death on the High Seas Act, the general maritime law, and state survival and wrongful death statutes. Furthermore, he has handled numerous contractual disputes concerning indemnification, additional insured status, and the application of anti-indemnity statutes.
Mr . Murphy has participated in dozens of trials and has secured defense verdicts in at least three separate wrongful death cases. One involved a products liability claim brought against the manufacturer of a high pressure clamp used to test oil field equipment. Another concerned a collision on an inland waterway between a towing vessel and a recreational watercraft.
Other accomplishments that Mr. Murphy has achieved in maritime and oil field-related litigation include securing reduction of a $19 million plus judgment to $44,309, in a suit brought by a well operator against a drilling contractor for intentionally damaging an oil well in Massey v. Decca Drilling Co., Inc., 64 So.2d 1196 (La. App. 2nd Cir. 1994), and obtaining the acquittal of a drilling contractor from a personal injury claim, which clarified the standard for when a new trial should be granted under the Jones Act, in Smith v. Transworld Drilling Co., 773 F.2d 610 (5th Cir. 1985). Furthermore, Mr. Murphy litigated the constitutionality of whether a choice-of-law provision in a master service agreement can displace application of the Louisiana Oilfield Indemnity Act in Matte v. Zapata Offshore Company, 784 F.2d 628 (5th Cir. 1986).
In the realm of casualty and product liability litigation, Mr. Murphy has garnered numerous successes. He obtained the reversal of a $1.4 million judgment entered against an uninsured motorist insurer in Dupre v. Maynard, 692 So.2d 36 (La. App. 1st Cir. 1997). He successfully defended the validity of an uninsured motorist coverage rejection notice in Alford v. Woods, 614 So.2d 1299 (La. App. 3rd Cir. 1993), which allowed an uninsured motorist carrier to avoid a judgment on a bodily injury claim that exceeded $400,000. In Clark v. R.D. Werner Co., Inc., 2000 WL 66380 (E.D. La.), he successfully excluded plaintiff’s metallurgical expert from testifying at trial.
Additionally, Mr. Murphy regularly has defended architects, other design professionals and building contractors against personal injury and property damage claims. He secured the dismissal of a suit brought by multiple plaintiffs against a mechanical engineering firm for the alleged presence of mold and other neuro-toxins in a newly constructed university office building. He also secured dismissal of a suit against a mechanical subcontractor brought by a municipal worker who alleged multiple neurological disorders as a result of being exposed to hydrogen sulfide gas. In Merchants National Bank & Trust Co. of Indianapolis v. Smith, Hinchman & Grylls Associates, Inc., 876 F.2d 1202 (5th Cir. 1989), Mr. Murphy successfully defended an architectural firm against a multi-million dollar claim brought by an electrical sub-contractor in connection with the construction of a hospital.
Mr. Murphy also possesses considerable experience in the litigation of fiduciary liability claims brought under the Employer Retirement Income Security Act. In the past, he has defended fiduciaries of a major construction company and a major shipbuilding company against ERISA claims asserted in relation to the diversification of assets held by employees stock ownership plans.
Mr. Murphy has spoken on numerous occasions, including appearances before the Meeting of Invited Attorneys sponsored by Victor O. Schinnerer & Co., the American Corporate Counsel Association, the Greater New Orleans Business Roundtable, the Network of Trial Law Firms, and the New Orleans Bar Association. He is a contributing author to the "Construction Industry Insurance Handbook" in the areas of self-insurance and risk retention groups, which John Wiley & Sons, Inc. published in 1991.
Professional Activities and Honors
"Louisiana Super Lawyers" List, 2008, 2007
American Bar Association
-- Section of Litigation, Products Liability Committee
International Association of Defense Counsel
-- Products Liability, Casualty Insurance and Maritime Law Commitees
Defense Research Institute
Louisiana Association of Defense Counsel
Louisiana State Bar Association
Education
J.D., Loyola University, 1980
B.A., Communications, Loyola University, 1976
