Lawyer Bio : Gordon D. Schreck

Gordon D. Schreck

Charleston

Gordon D. Schreck’s practice focuses on admiralty and maritime matters of all types, including personal injury, cargo damage, collisions and allisions, charter party disputes, ocean and inland tugs and towing, marine insurance, recreational boating casualties, marine finance, and marine environmental pollution. His status in the admiralty bar, at both local and national levels, is evidenced by leadership positions held during his career, including Chairman of the Southeastern Admiralty Law Institute, Chair of the Maritime Law Sections of both the Federation of Defense & Corporate Counsel and the South Carolina Defense Trial Attorneys’ Association and as a Director of the Maritime Law Association of the U.S. He is a founding director of the Maritime Arbitration Association, and currently chairs the Board of Advisors of the Charleston Maritime Law Institute, which he helped found in 2005 at the Charleston School of Law. He is also an Associate Editor for American Maritime Cases, the leading admiralty law case reporter in the United States.
 
Mr. Schreck heads the firm’s Admiralty and Maritime Practice Group and is former chair of its Litigation Department. He is a permanent member of the U.S. Fourth Circuit Judicial Conference and has been listed in the Best Lawyers in America since 1989 and South Carolina Super Lawyers since its inception.
 
Selected Decisions:
 
Federal Court of Appeals
 
Any result the lawyer or law firm may have achieved on behalf of clients in other matters does not necessarily indicate similar results can be obtained for other clients.
  • Client's containership collided with world’s most expensive hydraulic dredge in Chinese territorial waters, with alleged damage to dredge of $326 million. Operator of containership filed limitation of liability action in district court in Charleston against the operators of dredge to enjoin eight (8) separate admiralty actions commenced in multiple district courts in the U.S. After enjoining the dredge operators from proceeding in the other actions, the district court in Charleston granted the containership interests’ motion to dismiss its own limitation proceeding on forum non conveniens grounds, holding that China was appropriate forum for Charleston Litigation. On appeal, Fourth Circuit affirmed, holding that containership operator did not abuse the limitation of liability statute by filing for limitation and then seeking dismissal, and that dismissal under doctrine of forum non conveniens was warranted on facts. Served as lead counsel for prevailing operator of containership at trial and appellate levels.
  • Canadian corporation filed Complaint seeking payment for supplies furnished by ship's previous owners, and arrested ship to secure the claim. Canadian law was applied which provides no maritime lien would lie against new ship owner. District court awarded damages to shipowner for wrongful arrest, and verdict affirmed on appeal. Represented defendant shipowner.
  • The Fourth Circuit affirmed district court's denial of maritime lien treatment for container crane and container handling equipment rental charges. Successfully defended shipowner.
  • Successfully prosecuted 5th Amendment Constitutional taking claim against U.S. Customs Service in connection with civil penalty action asserted against shipping line.
  • Determination as to priority between preferred ship mortgagee and maritime lienors. Successfully represented Plaintiff-Mortgagee.
  • The Fourth Circuit affirmed non-jury verdict for shipowner for damage to vessel resulting from allision with submerged dredge pipe causing oil spill. Represented plaintiff shipowner.
United States District Court
 
Any result the lawyer or law firm may have achieved on behalf of clients in other matters does not necessarily indicate similar results can be obtained for other clients.
  • Action under Jones Act for damages for personal injury sustained while employed as merchant seaman. Prevailed on summary judgment.
  • Administratrix of estate of longshoreman brought wrongful death action against shipowner as result of accident during discharge operation. Summary judgment granted.
  • Admiralty action to recover for personal injury sustained on cruise ship. Summary judgment obtained for shipowner.
  • Suit for damage to cargo. Represented Chinese shipowner. Suit dismissed for lack of subject matter jurisdiction, based on Chinese forum selection clause.
  • Maritime personal injury suit by longshoreman against shipowner for injuries sustained while loading cargo in hold. Represented shipowner. Summary judgment for defendant.
  • Holder of B/L bound by charter party arbitration clause. Represented Defendant shipowner. Prevailed on motion to stay pending arbitration.
  • Shipowner held not negligent for wake causing personal injury and property damage. Represented Defendant at trial.
  • Ship mortgagor foreclosure action of vessel. Prevailed on Motion for Interlocutory Sale. 
  • Motion to dismiss government CERCLA action against ship and its owner to recover response costs incurred when containers of arsenic trioxide were lost overboard; jurisdictional question. Represented Defendant. Case settled.
  • Maritime personal injury suit by longshore truck driver against shipowner for injuries sustained when cargo in ocean container shifted, causing tractor truck to turn over. Prevailed on summary judgment for defendant.
  • Limitation proceeding dismissed on forum non conveniens ground. Represented shipowner.
South Carolina Supreme Court/Court of Appeals
 
Any result the lawyer or law firm may have achieved on behalf of clients in other matters does not necessarily indicate similar results can be obtained for other clients.
  • Wrongful death claim against policy holder's estate arising out of boating accident. Represented insurer and prevailed on appeal.

Additional Biography Info

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Professional Activities

Bar Admissions: South Carolina Supreme Court, 1970; United States Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit, 1993; United States Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit, 1971; United States District Court for the District of South Carolina, 1970; United States Supreme Court, 2009; Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals, 1969
 
  • American Maritime Cases, Associate Editor, 2002-Present
  • American Bar Association
  • Charleston County Bar Association
       - Former Chair, Grievance Committee
  • Charleston Maritime Law Institute (Charleston School of Law)
       - Chair, Board of Advisors
  • Federation of Defense and Corporate Counsel
       - Chair, Maritime Law Section, 1994-1997
       - Vice-Chair, Transportation Law Section, 2001-2004
  • Fourth Circuit Judicial Conference, Permanent Member
  • Maritime Association of South Carolina, Chairman
  • Maritime Arbitration Association, Founding Director
  • Maritime Law Association of the United States, Proctor Member
      - Member, Board of Directors, 1996-1999; Chair, Carrier Security Committee, 1999-2003
  • Propeller Club of the United States, Port of Charleston, Past President
  • South Carolina Bar
       - Former Member, House of Delegates
       - Former Chair, Professional Responsibility Committee
  • South Carolina Defense Trial Attorneys' Association
  • Southeastern Admiralty Law Institute
       - Chairman, 1983-1984
       - Permanent Member, Advisory Committee

Civic Activities

  • Charleston County Ethics Commission, 1985-1986
  • Charleston Speech and Hearing Center, Inc., Past Vice-President and Director
  • Historic District Appearance Commission, Town of Mt. Pleasant, SC
       - Member, 1983-1990
       - Chairman, 1986-1990
  • Mt. Pleasant Presbyterian Church (PC USA), Elder and former Clerk of Session
  • Mt. Pleasant Sertoma Club, Past President

Education

University of Virginia School of Law, 1969 - LL.B, Virginia Legal Research Group, Delta Theta Phi Law Fraternity
 
Princeton Theological Seminary, 1966, Rockefeller Brothers "Trial Year" Fellowship
 
Hampden-Sydney College, 1965 - B.A., History and Latin, Board of Trustees, 1999-2010, 2011-2014 (Chair, Faculty and Academic Affairs Committee)

Prior Legal Experience

Buist Moore Smythe McGee P.A.
  • Chair, Litigation Department, 1996-2008
  • Head, Admiralty and Maritime Practice Group, 1993-2011
  • Management Committee, 1998-2002
  • Principal, 1974-2011
  • Associate, 1970-1974
Associate, Moore, Mouzon and McGee, Charleston, South Carolina, 1969-1970

Publications

"Primer for the Defense of Recreational Boating Liabilities in the Next Millenium," co-author with Robert F. Hungerford, Esq., of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and Layton R. Mank, Esq., of Miami, Florida (presented at 1999 FICC Annual Meeting, Whistler, British Columbia).
 
"Recent Case Developments - Maritime Law," FICC Update, 1993-94

Presentations

Visiting Lecturer in Admiralty Law, Charleston School of Law, 2004-Present
 
Visiting Lecturer in Admiralty Law, University of South Carolina School of Law, 1990-1994
 
"Trial Advocacy in South Carolina: The Defense Perspective", National Business Institute Seminar, Charleston, SC 1990
 
"Admiralty Practice under the Supplemental Admiralty Rules, FRCP", Presentation to Clerks of Court of the U.S. District Courts for the Fourth, Fifth and Eleventh Circuits, Wilmington, NC, 1989
 
"Recreational Boating Liabilities", SEALI Annual Seminar, 1985

Additional Information

Honors
  • Named Charleston, SC Admiralty and Maritime "Lawyer of the Year" by The Best Lawyers in America for 2011.
  • "AV" rating, Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory, 1982-Present
  • The Best Lawyers in America, Maritime Law, 1989-Present
  • South Carolina Super Lawyers, 2008-Present