5th Cir. Reverses Damages for Death of Employee Due to Ingestion of Fentanyl and Xylazine as Superseding Cause

Bommarito v. Belle Chasse Marine Transp., L.L.C., No. 22-30382, 2025 WL 3166250 (5th Cir. Nov. 13, 2025) (Haynes, J., dissenting in part).

By Arthur A. Crais, Jr., Adjunct Professor

This opinion, released Thursday afternoon, addresses several issues, including jurisdiction under the Admiralty Extension Act, what qualifies as an appurtenance to a vessel, corporate identity, and liability under Section 905(b).[1] The Fifth Circuit affirmed the court’s admiralty jurisdiction, the classification of the hooks as appurtenances to the vessel, and that the two companies are essentially the same.[2]

The Eastern District of Louisiana, Fallon, J.,[3] also held that the vessel owner breached two duties of active control as well as the duty to intervene.[4] Regarding causation, Judge Fallon found that the decedent used fentanyl and xylazine to cope with intractable pain.[5] The court awarded $575,668.09 in damages for pain and suffering before death, loss of consortium, loss of support, estate expenses, and past medical expenses.[6]

The majority of the Fifth Circuit panel reversed the award.[7] Addressing causation, Judge Richman wrote: “Whether an overdose from illegal drugs is a superseding cause is an issue of first impression in our circuit, and one that few federal courts have addressed.”[8] The majority then draws on state law, “conclud[ing] ingesting illegal drugs to be a superseding cause.”[9] The decedent ingested more than six times the lethal dose of fentanyl. As the majority explained, “[o]ur own precedent recognizes that the superseding cause doctrine ‘is predicated on the notion that “there must be a terminus somewhere, short of eternity, at which the second party becomes responsible in lieu of the first.” Foreseeability is a continuum; at some point, there is no causation as a matter of law.’”[10]

The panel therefore reversed the award for wrongful death and loss of consortium.[11] Judge Haynes dissented from the reversal of the wrongful death award but concurred in reversing the loss of consortium award.[12]

A PDF copy of the opinion is attached.

[1] See Bommarito, 2025 WL 3166250.

[2] Id. at *2–6

[3] See Bommarito v. Belle Chasse Marine Transp., 606 F. Supp. 3d 304 (E.D. La. 2022), rev'd sub nom., Bommarito v. Belle Chasse Marine Transp., L.L.C., No. 22-30382, 2025 WL 3166250 (5th Cir. Nov. 13, 2025).

[4] Id. at *6.

[5] Id. at *3.

[6] Id. at *9.

[7] Bommarito, 2025 WL 3166250 at *8.

[8] Id. at *6.

[9] Id. at *7.

[10] Id. (quoting In re Kinsman Transit Co., 338 F.2d 708, 722 (2d Cir. 1964)).

[11] Id. at *8.

[12] Bommarito, 2025 WL 3166250 at *9.