Otis Felder (Partner-San Francisco, CA) prevailed in representing a jet ski rental company before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, which affirmed the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California in Sacramento was correct in resuming its exclusive admiralty jurisdiction with respect to negligent entrustment claims made by the mother of a rider who drowned. In this case, after the rental company, which owned the jet ski, initiated the federal limitation proceedings, the district court, pursuant to Admiralty Rule F, enjoined all other lawsuits arising from the accident. Initially, only the decedent's mother filed a claim in the limitation proceedings. She also filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the renters in California state court and asked the district court for permission to also proceed against the rental company. Initially, the district court lifted the stay but when the rental company was added to the state court action, the renters filed cross-complaints, which the district court then enjoined because it would interfere with its exclusive jurisdiction to determine the potential liability of the rental company. On appeal, the Ninth Circuit held, in general, that a district court has broad discretion to dissolve and reinstate its injunction issued under Rule F and the Limitation of Liability Act (LOLA), but it must allow the mother to proceed in state court against other defendants who are not entitled to protection under the LOLA. It found that the federal Anti-Injunction Act, which prohibits a federal court from staying state court proceedings, except as authorized by Congress or where necessary to aid or protect its jurisdiction, prohibited the district court from enjoining the decedent's mother from proceeding against anyone other than the vessel owner, which is protected by the LOLA. In addition, the renters did not seek protection of the LOLA as charterers, to which the LOLA also applied, and did not participate in the appeal.