In Sign of Fear & Desperation, Maersk Filed a Federal Lawsuit Against the U.S. Coast Guard Seeking Legally Privileged Info About Maritime Legal Aid & Advocacy & Its Founder J. Ryan Melogy

New York, NY

As the worst sexual misconduct scandal to ever hit the U.S. maritime industry approaches its boiling point, Maersk Line, Limited has upped the ante in its scorched-earth campaign to deflect blame for its decades-long pattern of criminal sexual assault coverups by filing a federal lawsuit against the United States Coast Guard.

Only months ago it would have been almost unthinkable for the largest U.S. flag commercial carrier to file a federal lawsuit against the federal law enforcement agency tasked with regulating its own operations. But the relationship between Maersk and the U.S. Coast Guard deteriorated from one of mutual complicity into one characterized  by extreme adversity after the Coast Guard brought a Maersk Captain to trial on charges of shipboard sexual misconduct in June 2021 and also fined Maersk $10,000 for violating 46 USC § 10104, also known as the Federal Shipboard Sexual Assault Allegation Reporting Law.

In motions filed during the trial of the known sexual predator who Maersk continued to employ as a Captain even after numerous crewmembers came forward to accuse the Captain of shipboard sexual misconduct, Maersk accused the U.S. Coast Guard of engaging in a “systematic harassment campaign” against the Danish company. Maersk’s allegations of “systematic harassment” on the part of the U.S. Coast Guard stemmed from subpoenas issued to Maersk by the U.S. Coast Guard seeking documents such as crew lists and personnel files. 

After decades in which the largest shipping company in the world became accustomed to facing zero oversight over its handling of allegations of shipboard sexual misconduct and sexual assault, any scrutiny of its atrocious criminal policies must have indeed felt like harassment, although to the independent observer they appeared to be routine.  Maersk’s desperate cries of “systematic harassment” failed, however, as the federal judge overseeing the sexual misconduct trial dismissed nearly all of Maersk’s legal protests regarding the U.S. Coast Guard’s subpoenas. 

After its industry influence and high-priced lawyers failed to head off the sexual misconduct trial of a Maersk Captain and the first ever fine issued for a violation of 46 USC § 10104, Maersk is now taking aim at the organization that has emerged as the largest threat to exposing the company’s policies of systematic criminal sexual misconduct coverups: a tiny non-profit called Maritime Legal Aid & Advocacy, led by J. Ryan Melogy.

On September 9, 2021 Maersk filed a federal lawsuit seeking legally privileged information and communications between the U.S. Coast Guard and Maritime Legal Aid & Advocacy (MLAA), and between the U.S. Coast Guard and J. Ryan Melogy.  Maersk is desperate to avoid accountability and desperate to avoid having the truth about its criminal operations exposed to the world, and the company seems to hope or believe they will find something in the communications between MLAA, Ryan Melogy, and the U.S. Coast Guard that will allow their sex-predator Captains to continue preying on crewmembers, including cadets from the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy and other state maritime academies.

The lawsuit targeting MLAA and Ryan Melogy was filed by Ryan T. Gibson of Kaufman & Canoles, a maritime law firm based in Norfolk, Virginia that has decided to enter the lucrative legal market for defense of shipboard sexual predators and the companies who harbor and protect them.  Leading the legal charge for Maersk is in-house lawyer Gary English, who has been in charge of criminal shipboard sexual assault coverups at Maersk for more than 5 years. English’s legal strategy is overseen by William Woodhour, President and CEO of Maersk Line, Limited. Woodhour serves as the vice chairman of the board of the National Defense Transportation Association.

For MLAA, Maersk’s lawsuit is only the latest attack on the small non-profit from actors across the U.S. maritime industry, and like all of the others, it will also fail, and it will also backfire hugely—Inshallah.