Traumatic Brain Injury – $5,900,000 Settlement
The Plaintiff lost his balance, fell over the side of the vessel, and landing on the dock approximately 35 ft below. As a result of the fall, Plaintiff broke numerous bones in his body, suffered a variety of internal injuries with damage to various organs and was diagnosed with a severe traumatic brain injury with severe frontal lobe injury.
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Second and Third Degree Burns – $4,500,000 Settlement
Plaintiff entered the lower pipe tunnel to perform her weekly safety checks. Plaintiff descended the ladder from the engine room, tested the aft bilge alarm, walked the length of the pipe tunnel, checked the port side escape trunk, tested the forward bilge alarm and then proceeded to climb up the ladder to the starboard escape trunk, where she was burned over 60 percent of her body by steaming hot water that had collected in the escape trunk.
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Paraplegia – $3,400,000 Verdict
The VALIANT, a 130-foot ocean-going tug was in a shipyard in Tampa, Florida. The plaintiff was carrying approximately a four-by-four piece of cardboard with a piece of equipment on it when he fell through the open hatch down into the engine room approximately 14 feet. As a result, Plaintiff became a T6 paraplegic. Plaintiff did not have any memory of the accident.
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Crushed Leg – $2,500,000 Verdict
The plaintiff was employed as an oiler on a 650-foot tanker the S/R Charleston, which transports crude oil and product from Texas to New York. In the engine room was a steel storage rack that held five to seven pieces of 4-foot by 4-foot pieces of steel and various small pieces of steel. The Plaintiff was crushed by the plates of steel as he attempted to put plates back into the rack.
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Below Knee Leg Amputation – $2,450,000 Settlement
The USNS WATSON was in Port Salalah, Oman. Plaintiff’s accident involved the releasing of the mooring lines to a tug. In order to release the lines a winch is used. However, on that day, the winch malfunctioned and the Plaintiff and crew were forced to manually release the line. As Plaintiff manually released the line by hand, his leg got caught in the line the tug was pulling, and his leg was severed.
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Quadriplegia – limited insurance – $2,300,000 Settlement
This case involves a motor vehicle accident that occurred at the intersection of Hobbs Road and Route 1 in North Hampton, New Hampshire. The plaintiff, who was not wearing his seatbelt, sustained severe personal injuries and became a quadriplegic from the accident. The settlement was limited by the insurance available.
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Compression Fracture – $2,100,000 Verdict
The plaintiff’s shattered dream of being able to ship out on tankers as a sea captain generated a verdict of approximately $2.1 million. Although the plaintiff suffered only a minor physical injury of a mild compression fracture of the thoracic vertebra, the jury awarded damages of approximately $500,000 for the plaintiff’s mental anguish for not being able to pursue his chosen career as a sea captain.
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Crushed Vertebrae – $2,017,000 Settlement
The plaintiff was employed as a member of the crew of the F/V GEORGIE J. The crew was hauling back and was in the process of unloading scallops on the boat when a 20-ton block broke free, striking the plaintiff. The plaintiff was scalped and sustained crush injuries to his C3/C4 vertebras rendering him an incomplete quadriplegic. Since Defendant had a limited insurance policy, the plaintiff was able to increase settlement funds by arresting the scallop vessel, selling it at auction and receiving the proceeds.
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Death on the High Seas – $1,700,000 Settlement
The F/V STARBOUND departed George’s Bank bound for the port of Rockland, ME. Earlier that same day, the M/T VIRGO departed the port of Boston, MA headed for Come By Chance, Newfoundland, Canada. In the early morning hours of August 5, 2001, the M/T VIRGO and the F/V STARBOUND collided approximately 130 miles east of Cape Ann, Massachusetts, causing the F/V STARBOUND to sink with the loss of three crew members with the Captain surviving. Latti & Anderson LLP represented the estate of one of the deceased crew members.
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Torn Rotator Cuff and Torn Bicep – $1,650,000 Settlement
The Plaintiff, James Crook, 52 years old, was a captain on board a scallop boat. On the day of the accident, the Plaintiff returned to the vessel with the crew to do gear work and prepare the vessel to go back out fishing the next day. The Plaintiff went into the wheel house to turn on a piece of equipment and found oil on the deck of the wheelhouse and the galley. He was able to clean up some of the oil over the wheel house deck with the paper towels, but he ran out of paper towels. As the Plaintiff went to get additional paper towels, the Plaintiff slipped and fell on the oil. The oil was left by the Defendant’s repair crew that had failed to clean up after they worked on the vessel’s equipment during the vessel’s layup.
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Line Strike Injury – $1,500,000 Settlement
Plaintiff, a crew member on a fishing vessel, was struck by a messenger line he had just placed over the starboard spreader bar. The messenger line went taut, striking the Plaintiff on the right side of his torso and lifting him up by his right armpit and throwing him up into the air. The Plaintiff landed on the frame of the spare net cage/pen. As a result of the accident, the Plaintiff was diagnosed with a right axillary and subclavian artery dissection resulting in RUE ischemia and nerve damage requiring surgery and stenting. Also, the Plaintiff broke numerous bones including multiple fractures of the scapula, scapular spine, ribs, vertebral bodies to sternal fracture. Also, the Plaintiff was diagnosed with herniated and discs and tears and lympedema. Plaintiff’s fractures healed, but Plaintiff was diagnosed with acute nerve denervation, brachial plexopathy and axillary nerve injury resulted in near complete loss of the anterior half of his deltoid. Plaintiff had limited grip strength and function in arm and ability to lift his whole arm up and down in any manner.
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Amputation – $1,450,000 Settlement
The plaintiff, a longshoreman, was directing the operator of the forklift into the garage. The plaintiff stopped at the forklift operator and then went over to the machine to speak to him. After talking with the operator and then went over to the machine to speak to him. After talking with the operator, the plaintiff turned and walked away from the forklift. The operator then turned the wheel a full turn and proceeded ahead. As he did this, the tail swing of the machine ran over the plaintiff’s legs and feet.
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Death on High Seas – $1,450,000 Settlement
The plaintiff’s decedent, a longshoreman, was crushed to death between 40-foot seagoing containers (shipping containers designed to be stowed aboard a ship or placed in an over-the-road chassis to be towed by a truck) at the John F. Moran Container Terminal, which is owned and operated by Massachusetts Port Authority.
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Crane Injury – $1,150,000 Settlement
The 39-year old plaintiff welder was working on a construction site when he was hit in the left arm by a six-inch long steel pin that flew out of a grapple bucket as it was being lifted by a crane. As a result of the accident, the welder suffered a broken left forearm, nerve damage in the left shoulder and arm, a fractured skull, a perforated right ear drum, minor hearing loss in his right ear, headaches, a back injury and some numbness in his left leg.
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Man Overboard – $1,100,000 Settlement
Two seamen, members of the crew of the M/V Islander, brought claims under the Jones Act and federal maritime law after they were injured during a lifeboat drill while employed by the defendant.
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Construction Site Accident – $1,030,000 Verdict
Mr. Kenny was a pile driver superintendent for Cashman/KPA. He was injured when he was crushed between a fender and a pier. As a result of the injury, he suffered a left L4-5 arthropathy (arthritis of the vertebra).
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Finger Amputation – $1,020,000 Settlement
The plaintiff, Todd Hibbert, was a chief engineer aboard a hopper dredge (a vessel used to remove mud and silt from the bottom of water) for the defendant, Weeks Marine. The plaintiff sustained permanent damage to his right hand when he was injured during the course of his employment aboard the hopper dredge, R.N. WEEKS.
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Two Deaths on the High Seas – $1,000,000 Verdict
The F/V CAPE FEAR sank on January 9, 1999 due to the instability of the vessel. After defeating a Limitation on Liability Proceeding and Court granting Exoneration, a jury awarded the Estates of Steven Reeves and Paul Martin damages for their conscious pain and suffering prior to their death and loss of support for Mr. Reeves’ son.
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Severed Tendons – $991,000 Verdict
The plaintiff, a commercial fisherman, cut his hand while working with a knife repairing a fishing net hanging from the stern of the defendant’s vessel. The plaintiff ordered evidence that immediately prior to the accident the plaintiff requested that the captain slow the vessel down and lower the net onto the deck in a position where it could be safely worked on. According to the plaintiff, the captain refused.
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Sexual Assault – $940,000 Settlement
The plaintiff had gone to bed early that night, and, before going to sleep, had locked her door. In the morning early hours, on two separate occasions, the chef, who was intoxicated, used a master key given to him by other crew members, went into the plaintiff’s room and sexually assaulted her.
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Fractured Vertebrae, Broken Sternum, Ligament Rupture and Herniations – $925,000 Settlement
The Captain told the Plaintiff, an employee of Donna Martita Fishing Co. LLC, to go underneath the fish hose reel and feed out the hose. The entire fish hose was on the reel and had not been rolled out yet. In accordance with the captain and the mate’s instructions, the Plaintiff sat on the base of the fish hose reel, his body was forward with his hands over his head to help feed out the hose. Once the hydraulics started, the reel jolted into action and he felt a very heavy blow across his shoulder, which forced his upper body onto his quadriceps. The Plaintiff then heard his ribs and sternum crack as he was being compacted, twisted and rotated into the hose reel until it was stopped and he was removed from the hose reel.
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Assault/Torn Cartilage – $920,172 Verdict
At the time of his injury, the plaintiff was a 46-year-old seaman employed by the defendant as an able bodied seaman on the passenger ferry M/V EAGLE. The plaintiff was injured when he was struck in the hip by a wooden stick being swung by a fellow crew member who was involved in a fight with a third crew member.
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Right Foot Injury – $900,000 Settlement
The Plaintiff was a seaman and first assistant engineer on the T/S DYNACHEM. While he was in the process of disembarking the T/S DYNACHEM via the pilot ladder, the Plaintiff’s feet were compressed between the hull of the T/S DYNACHEM and the bow of the M/V ISLAND COMMUTER 2, which was providing launch services to the T/S DYNACHEM.
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Herniated Disc – $900,000 Verdict
The plaintiff was employed as a boatswain on a 755-foot integrated tug barge. On that day, the plaintiff lifted a 250-300 pound pennant line over a rail and herniated a disc in his back.
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Complex Regional Pain Syndrome – $837,500 Settlement
The Plaintiff was working with a fellow crewmember, pulling the clams cages together with a shovel. At the time of the incident, the Plaintiff was standing on the cages using a shovel to pull another cage into its correct position. While doing this, the handle of the shovel separated from the shovel itself, causing the Plaintiff to fall backwards into one of the cages causing injury to his left arm and wrist.
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Tibia and Fibula Fractures – $800,000 Settlement
Plaintiff was a fisherman whose leg got crushed by a stern ramp door when they were in the process of lowering the door to set out the net. Plaintiff was diagnosed with acute comminuted fractures involving the distal left tibia and distal left fibula. Plaintiff underwent multiple surgeries for closed reduction of the pilon/distal tibia/fibula fracture utilizing an external fixator; a repair of the left tibial plafond fracture; removal the external fixator and did an open reduction internal fixation of the left tibial plafond fracture and open reduction internal fixation of the fibula, debridement surgery and rectus abdominis flap transfer with skin graft from the left thigh. Plaintiff was 53 years old at the time of the accident could not return to work.
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Torn Rotator Cuff, Ligaments and Tendons – $775,000 Settlement
Plaintiff was a crew member on a scallop boat, the F/V NASHIRA. On the evening of the Plaintiff’s injury, the work deck was mostly full of scallops. After a pile of scallops was dumped on the deck, the Captain then lowered the dredge down on top of the pile of scallops with the cutting bar and bail approximately the height of the rail and the goose neck and bull ring lying on deck near the strongback at the center of the vessel with the  chainbag outboard of the rail. The Plaintiff then climbed up onto the dredge and attached the tail chain to the frame of the dredge. After the cargo hook was unhooked from the dumping chain, the Plaintiff grabbed onto the hook with his left hand, turned to his right and proceeded to walk down the dredge frame toward the bullring using the hook in his left hand for support and balance. While walking down the dredge frame toward the bullring while leaning on the hook, the hook went slack causing the Plaintiff to fall face first toward the center of the vessel and injured his shoulder.
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Multiple Broken Bones – $675,000 Settlement
This case involves a motorcycle – pickup truck collision on Route 3 a couple of miles outside of downtown Belfast. The plaintiff was operating his motorcycle eastbound, and a driver for the defendant was operating a Ford F350 pickup with a trailer westbound. The defendant’s driver entered the left turn lane. There was no stop sign. The driver made his left turn in front of the plaintiff, cutting him off, and the plaintiff collided with the left front side of the pickup truck.
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Cervical Herniation – $675,000 Settlement
The plaintiff sustained a cervical herniation resulting in incomplete quadriplegia while operating a small boat with Happy’s Handi-Mate Outboard Motor Extension Handle off the coast of Popham Beach, Maine. The plaintiff was unable to control the speed and direction of his boat because the Handi-Mate loosened after it was attached to the outboard motor hand.
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Unsafe Gear Retrieval – $500,000 Settlement
The 55-year-old plaintiff, a seaman and a crew member on the defendant’s vessel, was hauling gear when the ground wires parted and the vessel lost its gear, sustaining a L4-5 disc herniation, right shoulder dislocation, rotator cuff tear, multiple abdominal injuries, lacerated liver and kidney hematoma.
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Loss of Hearing – $475,000 Settlement
The plaintiff was employed as a cook by the defendant corporation on the sailing vessel. The plaintiff claimed that he was continuously exposed to excessive and deafening noise.
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Broken Finger – $474,653 Verdict
The plaintiff was injured while attempting to remove a jammed manual twist lock from a container while the container was about 2 to 3 feet above a truck chassis. As the plaintiff attempted to remove the twist lock, the container allegedly dropped and crushed his hand between the container and the truck chassis.
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Laceration of Fingers – $450,000 Settlement
The plaintiff was employed as a member of the crew of the F/V NORTH CAPE. The plaintiff alleged that he was ordered back to work after informing the captain that he was sick. In the process of sharpening a blade of a piece of machinery the plaintiff’s index, middle and ring fingers of his right hand were severely amputated.
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Pleasure Boat Accident – $440,000 Settlement
This case involved a pleasure boat accident in Shinnecock Inlet on Long Island in New York. The defendant, a boat mechanic, hit a standing swell too fast and subsequently injured the Plaintiff, sustaining a fracture of the spine. Settlement was difficult because there were a number of liens on the file.
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Burst Compression Fracture – $307,500 Settlement
Plaintiff, her best friend and several other passengers were on board the DUNWURKIN and the Defendant was operating the boat on a boat ride to Martha’s Vineyard on July 4. On the way back to Falmouth on the boat, the Plaintiff was sitting on the front of the boat and was holding onto the side of the railing and facing the stern, back of the boat. The Defendant was operating the vessel at a high rate of speed. The ride was uneventful until the Defendant hit a wake at full speed going directly into wake causing the Plaintiff to fly up in the air and slam back down on the bench to the same spot she was sitting causing the wind to be knocked out of her. Having the wind knocked out of her caused the Plaintiff to let go of the railing and grab her chest to catch her breath. A second or two later another wake was hit and she went up into the air higher than the last time and slammed down onto the deck landing on her bottom lower back area and immediately felt pain.
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Torn Bicep and Injury to Musculocataneous Nerve – $307,000 Settlement
The Plaintiff contended that the Defendant was negligent in failing to provide a safe place to work, that the Defendant was negligent in that the crewmembers failed to properly slide the lobster trap to the Plaintiff in that they threw it. Throwing the trap was against standard operating procedure and the case settled prior to trial for $307,000.
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Fingertip Amputation – $214,350 Verdict
The plaintiff, Manual Tavares, a mate aboard a scalloper, sustained permanent injury to his left hand. The plaintiff’s middle left finger was crushed when a drag, which he was replacing a shackle on, slipped and crushed his finger. Subsequent to the accident, the tip of the plaintiff’s middle finger was amputated.
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