Kyle Brennan

Associate

Kyle practices in the area of admiralty and transportation law, including intermodal cargo losses and related representation of property brokers, freight forwarders, non-vessel operating common carriers (NVOCCs), indirect air carriers, and customs brokers; Limitation of Liability Actions; collisions, allisions, and marine terminal property damage; General Average and Salvage; insurance defense and coverage litigation, including hull, P&I, open marine cargo, inland marine, combined transit liability, commercial general liability, and motor truck cargo legal liability; cargo subrogation, including cross-border recovery in Canada and Mexico; and domestic and international air carriage. Kyle also maintains an active transactional practice, including counseling clients in the transportation on legal compliance and document drafting, including broker-carrier agreements, bills of lading, terms and conditions of service, charter parties, and warehousing agreements.

Education, Admissions & Organizations

Kyle was born in Omaha, Nebraska and is a 2011 cum laude graduate of Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin. He received his law degree from DePaul University College of Law in Chicago, cum laude, with a Certificate in Intellectual Property Law and participated in the 2014 University of Oxford International Intellectual Property Moot Court Competition. He then received his LL.M. degree in maritime law, with distinction, from Tulane University School of Law in New Orleans, where he was a member of the Tulane Maritime Law Journal and participated in the 2015 Judge John R. Brown Admiralty Moot Court Competition held in Charleston, South Carolina. Kyle is admitted to practice in the state courts of Illinois, Texas, and Louisiana; all U.S. District Courts in Louisiana and Texas, the Northern District of Illinois, and the Northern District of Indiana; and the U.S. Courts of Appeal for the Fifth and Seventh Circuits. Kyle is active in the Propeller Club of the Port of Chicago, as well as the Maritime Law Association of the United States where he serves as secretary to the CLE Committee.

Notable Cases

AMRO Fabricating Corp. v. Asland Express, LLC, 2023 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 105981, *1 (S.D. Tex. 2023) (dismissing motor carrier’s claims for  contribution and indemnity against transportation intermediary for allegedly providing inaccurate height dimensions for cargo involved low-bridge accident on the grounds that the Carmack Amendment, 49 U.S.C. § 14706, does not provide general right of indemnity and contribution against alleged joint-tortfeasors, counterclaims against shippers or their agents are preempted by the Carmack, and tort claims against freight brokers are preempted the Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act (“FAAAA”), 49 U.S.C. § 14501(c)(1).

Articles and Presentations

Presenter, “Recent Developments in Cruise Line Law,” Cruise Lines and Passenger Vessels Committee Meeting, Fall Meeting of the Maritime Law Association of the United States, Boston, MA (Nov. 2021).

Panelist, “Circuit Splits in Admiralty Law,” Fall Meeting of the Maritime Law Association of the United States, Scottsdale, AZ (Oct. 2019).

Kyle Brennan, Up In Flames: The Risks of Misdeclared Hazardous Cargo in Shipping Containers Following The Maersk Honam Fire, 16 BENEDICT’S MAR. BULL. 74 (2nd Quarter 2018); 18 LOY. MAR. L.J. 259 (Summer 2019).

Kyle Brennan, All Things Visible & Invisible: The Location of Intangible Property for Rule B Attachment Purposes, 35 MISS. C. L. REV. 240 (Summer 2016).

Quantum Survey of Admiralty Personal Injury Awards, Survey of Collision Decisions in the Federal & State Courts, and Forum Selection Clause Survey, 2013-2015, 39 TUL. MAR. L.J. 805 (Summer 2015).

Kyle Brennan, Civil Forfeiture, Customs Law, and the Recovery of Cultural Property, 25 DEPAUL J. ART. TECH. & INTELL. PROP. L. 335 (Fall 2015).”

312-445-5356‬ kbrennan@mmr-law.com Download vCard