Fisherman‘s Widow Files $6M Suit
By Boston Herald Staff
Boston Herald

The widow of a Maine fisherman killed when the Russian tanker Virgo allegedly struck his boat off Cape Ann sued the ship’s owner for $6 million in federal court in Boston yesterday.

Aimee L. Sanfilippo, whose husband James Sanfilippo died Aug. 5 along with two other crew members of the Starbound, filed a similar suit in Canada, where officials seized the Virgo.

“We would like to get the case back into the United States,” said the widow’s attorney, David F. Anderson, who said the case belongs in Boston or Portland. The Virgo delivered oil to two terminals in Boston before crashing into the 83-foot trawler.

Filed against Virgo owner Primorsk Shipping Corp., the suit claims the tanker’s crew failed to help the drowning fishermen. Three Russian officers have been charged with involuntary manslaughter.