Verdicts and Settlements

court

Millions in Verdicts and Settlements Gained by Our Maritime Attorneys

The maritime attorneys at Latti & Anderson LLP have obtained numerous verdicts and settlements on behalf of clients. With over 50 years of experience representing those injured at sea and on land, we have gained millions of dollars in injury compensation for our clients to help them and their families get their lives back together after maritime injury or death.

If you have suffered an injury in a maritime accident or in a serious accident on land, please contact our maritime trial lawyers in Boston now. We represent clients throughout the United States and worldwide shipping and fishing ports.

Below are just some of the cases we have handled throughout the years.

Crushed Legs

$22,500,000 Settlement

A maritime worker was loading two barges, and one rolled and crushed his legs between the two vessels. He managed to drag himself to safety and grab onto a ladder rung to prevent himself from going underwater.

Amputation Settlement

$22,500,000 Settlement

Plaintiff, 38 years old,  was standing on the side railing of an empty barge, when a loaded barge alongside it, violently rolled over, capsizing, crushing Plaintiff’s two legs between the barges resulting in bilateral above knee amputation of Plaintiff’s legs.

Burns 100% of Body

$8,000,000 Settlement

A tug boat marine engineer was working in the engine room when a pipe containing pressurized oil cracked and sprayed oil on the engine. Upon contact with the exhaust manifold, the oil then ignited and fire filled the engine room. The engineer managed to get up the stairwell but sustained burns throughout the entirety of his body. He remained conscious and died from his injuries at the hospital approximately 18 hours after arrival. The case settled a month after a two day mediation, and the settlement included special injury compensation damages for his pre-death pain and suffering.

Traumatic Brain Injury

$5,900,000 Settlement

The plaintiff lost his balance, fell over the side of the vessel and landed on the dock approximately 35 feet below. As a result of the fall, the 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.

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 recei…

Paraplegia

$4,500,000 Settlement

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 hav…

Mild Traumatic Brain Injury

$4,000,000 Settlement

Plaintiff was a crew member on a scallop vessel when he slipped and fell on the deck while returning from dumping a pile of scallops in the shucking house. Plaintiff fell in the area where the scallop dredge lands and that is the one area of the deck where there is no non-skid surface. As a result of the fall, Plaintiff sustained a mild traumatic brain injury which causes continuous dizziness, nausea to cognitive issues and prevents Plaintiff from working and limits his activities.

Traumatic Brain Injury Settlement

$3,000,000 Settlement

Plaintiff, 28 years old, was a commercial fisherman on a scallop vessel and had fished for numerous years prior to his injury.

Traumatic Brain Injury

$3,000,000 Settlement

While attempting to retrieve a bag of scallops, a mariner leaned over to open a hatch cover, which slammed down on his head, resulting in a severe traumatic brain injury.

Mariner Injured by Lack of Safety Mechanism on Hatch

$3,000,000 Settlement

We obtained a $3 million settlement for a commercial fisherman injured in this type of situation. The victim had fished for several years and was working on a scallop vessel at the time of his accident.

Crushed Leg

$2,500,000 Verdict – Boston, Massachusetts

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 recei…

Electrocution, Stroke, Neurological and Cognitive Deficits

$2,500,000 Settlement – San Francisco, California

The plaintiff worked as a radio electronics officer on the M/V CAPE HENRY when she was electrocuted while changing a burnt-out light bulb on the radar range mast. Her injuries resulted in a stroke, irreversible brain damage and damage to her hearing and eye sight.

Below Knee Leg Amputation

$2,450,000 Settlement – Portland, Maine

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, you use a winch. However, on that day, the winch malfunctioned and the plaintiff and crew had to manually release the line. As the plaintiff manually released the line by hand, his leg got then caught in the line the tug was pulling. His leg was then severed.

Quadriplegia – Limited Insurance

$2,300,000 Settlement – Massachusetts

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 seat belt, sustained severe personal injuries and became a quadriplegic from the accident. The injury compensation settlement was then limited by the insurance available.

Complex Electrical Injury

$2,250,000 Settlement

Plaintiff was a tugboat crew member who experienced a severe electrocution after being ordered by an engineer to handle a damaged breaker. Plaintiff suffered complex electrical injury, including post-electrocution shock syndrome, neurological injuries, damage to the autonomic nervous system, cognitive and memory defects, and ligament damage to the cervical spine. Plaintiff alleged the vessel was unseaworthy under general maritime law, and also sued under the Jones Act for negligence in ordering him to touch the breaker and failing to properly maintain and inspect the breaker.

Compression Fracture

$2,100,000 Verdict – Boston, Massachusetts

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 injury compensation damages of approximately $500,000 ...

Crushed Vertebrae

$2,017,000 Settlement – Boston, Massachusetts

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 vertebra, rendering him an incomplete quadriplegic. Since the defendant had a limited insurance policy, the plaintiff was able to increase ...

Death on the High Seas

$1,700,000 Settlement – Portland, Maine

The F/V STARBOUND departed George's Bank bound for the port of Rockland, Maine. Earlier that same day, the M/T VIRGO departed the port of Boston, Massachusetts, 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...

Torn Rotator Cuff and Torn Bicep

$1,650,000 Trial Verdict – Boston, Massachusetts

The plaintiff, 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...

Line Strike Injury

$1,500,000 Settlement

The 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, lifting him up by his right armpit and throwing him up into the air. The plaintiff...

Amputation

$1,450,000 Settlement

The plaintiff, a longshoreman, was directing the operator of a forklift into the garage. The plaintiff stopped the forklift 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.

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, owned and operated by Massachusetts Port Authority.

Amputation of Four Fingers at PIP Joint Level

$1,400,000 Settlement

Plaintiff was a deck hand on small cruise vessel and had been working for several weeks prior to his injury. The vessel was at the dock, and the plaintiff was ordered by the mate to take up slack in the line. In order to do that, the plaintiff turned on the capstan. When he did that, all of his four fingers were pulled into the capstan and were severed off after being crushed between the capstan the rope. Liability focused on the failure to properly train the plaintiff in use of the capstan and the failure to properly mark the controls of the capstan. The injury compensation damages were solely for physical disfigurement, plaintiff's pain and suffering and future costs for prosthesis for the plaintiff.

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.

Death

$1,100,000 Settlement

Deckhand on board F/V BELLA ROSE disappeared while working his watch and is presumed to to have fallen overboard. Suit was brought on behalf of the deckhand's wife and child. Through investigation, it was believed that the deckhand went to place a call from the bow of the boat, but in order to access the bow, one had to climb over a transverse bulkhead and one must lean out board in order to clean the overhang of the pilot house roof. It was believed that the deckhand fell overboard at this transverse bulkhead. Negligence and unseaworthiness focused on the railings extending to the transverse bulkhead, which were not proper height according to industry and regulatory standards and the defendant's violation of USCG standards for man overboard drills.

Man Overboard

$1,100,000 Settlement – Boston, Massachusetts

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.

Construction Site Accident

$1,030,000 Verdict – Boston, Massachusetts

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).

Finger Amputation

$1,020,000 Settlement – Boston, Massachusetts

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.

Two Deaths on the High Seas

$1,000,000 Verdict – Boston, Massachusetts

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 injury compensation damages for their conscious pain and suffering prior to their death and loss of support for Mr. Reeves’ son.

Severed Tendons

$991,000 Verdict – Boston, Massachusetts

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 on the fishing boat 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.

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 intoxicated chef used a master key given to him by other crew members, went into the plaintiff's room and sexually assaulted her.

Fractured Vertebrae, Broken Sternum, Ligament Rupture and Herniations

$925,000 Settlement – Boston, Massachusetts

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 ...

Assault/Torn Cartilage

$920,172 Verdict – Boston, Massachusetts

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 injuries occured after he was struck in the hip by a wooden stick being swung by a fellow crew member who was fighting with a third crew member.

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.

Herniated Disc

$900,000 Verdict – Boston, Massachusetts

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.

Complex Regional Pain Syndrome

$837,500 Settlement

The plaintiff was working with a fellow crew member, 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.

Fractures, Dislocated Shoulder and Torn Rotator Cuff, Bicep and Labrum

$800,000 Settlement

Plaintiff was a scalloper who worked on two scallop vessels, F/V WISDOM & F/V DECISIVE. As the F/V DECISIVE was at the dock preparing to leave, the plaintiff was crossing over from the vessel to to the dock to release the lines when his foot slipped on the dock causing him to fall in the water between the dock and vessel. Liability focused on the failure to provide a proper means of ingress and egress to the vessel, i.e. a ramp or gangway.

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...

Aggravation of Pre-existing Back Pain from Spinal Fusion, Deep Vein Thrombosis in legs & Pulmonary Embolism

$785,000 Settlement

Torn Rotator Cuff, Ligaments and Tendons

$775,000 Settlement – Boston, Massachusetts

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...

Multiple Broken Bones

$675,000 Settlement – Maine

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 then 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.

Cervical Herniation

$675,000 Settlement – Portland, Maine

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 attaching it to the outboard motor hand.

Complex Regional Pain Syndrome

$500,000 Settlement

Plaintiff’s was a mate on board a fishing vessel. The plaintiff suffered a crush/traction injury to his 4th and 5th finger of his right hand. This occurred when the captain activated the vessel’s main winch while the plaintiff was attempting to dislodge a part on the port side trawl door. The plaintiff alleged that the captain’s failure to follow ...

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.

Loss of Hearing

$475,000 Settlement

The plaintiff was a cook for the defendant corporation on the sailing vessel. The plaintiff claimed that he was continuously exposed to excessive and deafening noise.

Broken Finger

$474,653 Verdict – Boston, Massachusetts

The plaintiff's injuries stemmed from 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.

Fracture, Nerve Damage and Complex Regional Pain Syndrome

$467,500 Settlement

Plaintiff an able bodied seaman on research vessel, R/V OCEANUS, and injured himself when walking down the gangway from the pier onto the ship's lower deck. The plaintiff was walking on the gangway when the gangway shifted and the plaintiff stumbled and fell forward. Negligence of plaintiff's employer and the unseaworthiness of the vessel focused on not properly securing the gangway to the vessel. The pier in that the gangway would shift and the wheels of the gangway were not flush to the deck of the vessel, which would then cause the rope side rails to become slack/loose. Plaintiff was able to return back to work but not a research vessel.

Laceration of Fingers

$450,000 Settlement – Seattle, Washington

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.

Pleasure Boat Accident

$440,000 Settlement – New York, New York

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, who sustained a fracture of the spine. Gaining the injury compensation settlement was complex, because there were a number of liens on the file.

Cruise Ship Accident

$395,732.39 Settlement

Plaintiff was a passenger on NCL cruise. On the last night, she played a game called THE QUEST, which is a scavenger type game where contestants bring up items to the host. The plaintiff slipped and fell on liquid on the dance floor while playing the game. Negligence focused on that the host who was giving out free drinks who spilled the liquid on the floor, and that he knew he spilled it and he or staff failed to clean it up. Plaintiff was out about 21 weeks from work. Her permanency is some residual pain in shoulder when it rains and has pain in her lung. The defendant denied there was any water on dance floor and said she fell from her own fault.

Burst Compression Fracture

$307,500 Settlement – Massachusetts

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 holding onto the side of the railing and facing the stern..

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. Additionally, the defendant was negligent in that the crew members failed to properly slide the lobster trap to the plaintiff in that they threw it. Throwing the trap was against standard operating procedure. The case settled prior to trial for an injury compensation of $307,000.

Fingertip Amputation

$214,350 Verdict – Boston, Massachusetts

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, doctors had to amputate the tip of the plaintiff's middle finger.

Cervical Decompression Injury and Aggravation of Facet and Degenerative Disc Disease

$170,000 Settlement

Plaintiff was a second mate on a tanker. Plaintiff injury was not the result of a specific instance but was from numerous times getting injured in the same spot. In order to access the pump room, the plaintiff had to go down several ladders. One ladder had an overhead platform with a beam that obstructed the passageway. Plaintiff hit his head numerous times on the beam. Negligence and unseaworthiness focused on the failure to remove the beam and for the defendant to correct the situation, even though they knew people were hitting their head. There was not sufficient clearance for a crew member to go up and down the ladder. The steel beam was a head-bumping hazard.

Broken Leg and Fractures Ribs

$160,000 Settlement

Captain on research sailing vessel was injured during a retrofit of the vessel. When the sailing vessel was out of the water in a cradle, the captain was doing work on the deck sanding. As he was emptying out the sander over the rail, the latch on the railing let go and the plaintiff fell approximately 20 feet to the ground. Plaintiff was very lucky in that he only broke his leg, fractured some ribs and had a partial collapsed lung. Liability focused on the unseaworthiness of the gate and the railing in that it did not have adequate hinges to hold crew and passengers inside the vessel. Settlement was for the plaintiff's pain and suffering, as he had limited lost wages and was able to return back to work in his full capacity.

Disc Bulge and Herniation

$130,000 Settlement

Plaintiff was a deckhand on a clamming vessel when the captain assaulted him for failing to follow an order on board the vessel. Negligence focused on the attack by the captain and that it was in furtherance of interest of his employer. Unseaworthiness focused on that the captain was not a seaman of equal disposition and seamanship to ordinary men in the calling. Plaintiff was able to return back to work no restrictions.

Torn Rotator Cuff

$113,500 Settlement

Tankerman working injured when the wind blew a locker cover on her when looking for supplies. Plaintiff then tore her rotator cuff and had full recovery. Unseaworthiness focused on failure of locker cover to have a latch on it or proper closing mechanism.

Fracture of the Sinus, Scarring to Neck and Brachial Plexus Injury

$100,000 Settlement

Plaintiff was a deckhand on tuna/swordfish boat when he was hurt on two different occasions in less than one month. In the first injury, the plaintiff was punched in the face by a fellow crew member while eating a bowl of cereal. The second injury occurred when the plaintiff was untangling the main spool line when the next thing he knew he was hanging from the block and was chocking. Luckily, a crew member took a knife and freed him as the plaintiff was hanging there. Negligence focused on the captain starting the controls for the main spool line without looking to see if the plaintiff finished untangling the line. Plaintiff suffered no restrictions but had a bad scar on his neck.