The lawyer of shipbuilder Les Chantiers

The lawyer of shipbuilder Les Chantiers de l'Atlantique Patrick Maisonneuve (L) speaks to the press on March 23, 2009 at the Rennes courthouse, western France, before the appeal trial of the collapse of a walkway on the construction site of the giant luxury liner Queen Mary 2 on November 2003 that killed 16 people. In 2008, a court in Saint-Nazaire, western France, found the shipbuilder guilty of a "lack of organisation in the chain of command" and its subcontractor Endel of failing to follow proper industry standards in building the walkway. But it acquitted eight people -- four employees of each company -- who were facing up to three years' suspended prison on the same charges. AFP PHOTO FRANK PERRY (Photo credit should read FRANCK PERRY/AFP via Getty Images)