The maritime version of "Murphy's Law" can be a
potential trap for participants in maritime tort litigation. The
decision of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Murphy v.
Florida Keys Electric Co-op Assoc., Inc., 329 F.3rd 1311 (11th
Cir. 2003) enunciated the rule that in order to preserve the right
to pursue third parties for tort "contribution," a party
must negotiate a release of those third parties when settling the
underlying claim brought by the tort victim. The law enounced by
the Murphy court was based upon the proportionate fault
rule existing in the maritime law and the pro rata credit
rule established by the U.S. Supreme Court in McDermott, Inc.
v. AmClyde, et al., 511 U.S. 202 (1994). The logic of this
version of Murphy's Law is that a settling tortfeasor is, per
McDermott, deemed to have paid the tort victim only in
accordance with the settlor's own proportionate share of fault.
The settlement extinguishes the rights (and needs) of
