About
Captain Mitchell S. Stoller
Master Mariner Unlimited. Former Exxon tanker master and Los Angeles Harbor pilot. Maritime expert witness and consultant since 1992.
Captain Mitchell S. Stoller graduated as valedictorian of the California Maritime Academy and went to sea with Exxon Shipping Company in 1975. Over the next thirteen years he moved up the deck ladder one license at a time: third mate, second mate, chief mate, and in 1984, master. As a captain he ran crude oil tankers in the Alaska trade, loading at Valdez and transiting Prince William Sound, and carried cargoes to Gulf and East Coast ports. Exxon twice recognized him for safe vessel operation. He holds a first-class federal pilot endorsement, unlimited, with pilotage for the San Francisco Bar and parts of Alaska, including Prince William Sound.
In 1988 he came ashore to pilot ships into Los Angeles, Long Beach, and San Pedro. Pilotage is a different discipline from command. A pilot boards a ship he has never seen, with a crew he has never met, and takes it through some of the most congested water in the country. About two and a half years of that work gave him a second professional lens: he has stood on the bridge as the master who answers for the ship, and as the pilot who has to earn that master's trust in a few minutes.
He founded Marex in 1992 to put that experience to work for attorneys, insurers, shipping companies, and public agencies. Since then he has been retained on maritime matters across the United States, on ocean-going ships and on rivers, harbors, and lakes. His work covers navigation and the rules of the road, vessel operations, crew training and supervision, safety management systems, and the custom and practice of the maritime industry.
He has also served the industry outside the courtroom. He was appointed to the Navigation Safety Advisory Council by Secretary of Transportation Federico Peña, where he chaired the Rules of the Road Committee, and later to the Towing Safety Advisory Committee, two federal committees that advise the U.S. Coast Guard on navigation and towing safety. In 2008 he was one of five shipmasters and expert mariners named on an amicus brief filed in the U.S. Supreme Court case Exxon Shipping Co. v. Baker.
What sets him apart
Chosen to take the first ship to Korea
In 1985, at 31, Exxon picked him from 42 captains to take the company's first ship to a Korean shipyard for a six-week overhaul. He managed about 150 work items and 500 shipyard workers on two 12-hour shifts, around the clock.
Never excluded
In 34 years of expert work, no court has excluded him as an expert. Federal judges in several circuits have cited his testimony favorably.
He helped write the rules
Chairman of the Rules of the Road Committee on the Navigation Safety Advisory Council, and twice appointed to the Towing Safety Advisory Committee.
Cases that set the law
Chief amicus in Exxon Shipping Co. v. Baker at the U.S. Supreme Court, and expert work in cases now taught in law schools. See notable cases
“The above recitation of Stoller's background does not fully encapsulate his maritime experience, which is lengthy and distinguished.”
Career timeline
- 1975 California Maritime Academy, graduated first in class (valedictorian) Source: CV
- 1975 to 1977 Third mate, Exxon Shipping Company Source: Amicus brief
- 1977 to 1979 Second mate, Exxon Source: Amicus brief
- 1979 to 1984 Chief mate, Exxon. Youngest chief mate in the company in modern times Source: Amicus brief, CV
- 1984 to 1988 Master, Exxon tankers. Youngest captain in the company in modern times Source: Amicus brief, CV
- 1985 Selected from 42 Exxon captains to take the company's first ship to Korea for a six-week shipyard overhaul Source: Captain Stoller
- 1988 to 1991 Los Angeles Harbor pilot, selected in a nationwide search. Piloted more than 1,000 ships Source: CV
- 1992 to present Founder and president, Marex Source: CV
- 1994 to 1998 Navigation Safety Advisory Council, appointed by Secretary of Transportation Federico Peña. Chairman, Rules of the Road Committee Source: CV
- 2008 Chief amicus, Master Mariners' brief, Exxon Shipping Co. v. Baker, U.S. Supreme Court Source: Supreme Court docket
- 2009 Towing Safety Advisory Committee, appointed by the Secretary of Homeland Security. Reappointed 2012 Source: CV
- 2024 Consulting expert to the City of Baltimore in the limitation action after the Key Bridge collapse Source: CV