$325,000 Settlement: Ship worker injured when box hits his head

Plaintiff contends crew’s efforts unorganized, no hard hat provided for him

Plaintiff brought forth a claim under the Jones Act, 46 USC § 30104, alleging negligence and failure to provide a safe place to work, as well as alleging the unseaworthiness of the fishing vessel pursuant to the General Maritime Laws of the United States.

On Sept. 24, 2010, plaintiff was acting within the scope and course of his employment as a processor/crewmember aboard defendant’s fishing vessel. His immediate supervisor instructed plaintiff to assist in offloading a third-party vessel, a Korean tramper (a ship without a fixed schedule or published ports of call) owned and operated by defendant. He was not provided with a hard hat and did not receive any further instructions or orders

When plaintiff entered the hold of the tramper, they formed a human chain and passed 40-pound boxes of frozen fish from one man to the other with the final man placing them on a stack.

While the co-crewmembers of the fishing vessel were conducting their portion of the offload in the orderly fashion described, plaintiff observed that the efforts and work of the crew of the tramper were unorganized and chaotic, and that the crewmembers of the tramper appeared very fatigued.

At one point, as plaintiff had placed a box on a stack and was turning around, one of the crewmembers from the tramper hurled a box of fish toward plaintiff, striking him on the left temporal area of his head, knocking him down. Plaintiff lost consciousness, and the incident was immediately reported to the officers of the fishing vessel.

A neuro-ophthalmologist determined that plaintiff suffered a permanent left inferior anterior defect consistent with traumatic optic neuropathy of the left eye. It was argued that plaintiff has been permanently disabled in engaging or returning to the duties of a commercial fisherman.

The matter settled for $325,000.

Type of action: Jones Act

Type of injuries: Head

Court/Case no./Date: U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington; confidential; May 3, 2013

Are you in need of a personal injur lawyer?