Case Results
Facts: In January 2011 SMSH Attorneys Arthur Schechter and Dennis McElwee won a $1,922,324.36 verdict for a maritime worker injured when a crane lift failed. The crane lift failed because of faulty slings which broke apart during the lift and rained metal pieces to the deck of the vessel. The injured worker suffered a broken leg, back injuries and lost two fingers.Read more.
Total Judgment: $1,922,324.36 (Plaintiff settled with his employer for a confidential amount prior to trial) Case is currently on appeal.
Facts: In March 2008, our client was employed as a deckhand in a shipyard. He suffered a head injury resulting in severe brain damage.
Total Settlement:$17,570,000
Client Received Total:$13,148,914 for a special needs trust, annuity purchase, trust for his minor child, and cash to his family
Facts: While on stern of tug attempting to hook up a barge, the “L” line became tight, broke, hit our client, cut his leg off and broke his other leg. The Captain had positioned the boat too far down the side of the barge.
Total Settlement:$2,500,000
Client Received Total:$1,484,862.20
Facts: On April 20, 2007, while working as blasters, painting an offshore rig on a platform, our two clients injured their backs when staging they were working on collapsed due to breakage of frayed line. They also sustained severe lacerations due to a defective water blasting gun supplied by Defendants.
Total Settlement:$1,600,000
Client Received Total:$933,097.85
Facts: In September 2005, our client was injured on a chemical dock when he was ordered to paint a tank utilizing a faulty ladder without fall protection and/or scaffolding. He fell 30-40 feet and hurt his back and legs.
Total Settlement:$1,100,000
Client Received Total:$641,267.95
Facts: Our client was a cook aboard a dive boat that exploded in the Gulf of Mexico in March of 2008. He suffered hearing loss in both ears and PTSD.
Total Settlement:$1,000,000
Client Received Total:$638,543.69
Facts: Our client was injured on October 10, 2006 while working as an electrician “QEE.” Vessel personnel had been repeatedly ordered to work under a working crane and/or when a crane was working an adjacent hatch, resulting in injuries or near-miss situations. Defendant failed to provide a safe place to work, failed to provide proper communication between the vessel and shore based workers, and failed to provide proper spotters on the deck. Our client injured his right knee in a crane accident.
Total Settlement:$950,000
Client Received Total:$586,208.47 + $50,000 Set Aside for Surgery
Facts: In October 2006, while working as a tankerman, the vessel our client was working on was tied up to a ship with the barge unloading. Our client was instructed by his captain during very rough weather to unface the boat so that it could be moved along side of the barge. While performing this task, our client was thrown over the bullworks and onto the cavel on the barge.
Total Settlement:$564,376.83
Client Received Total:$365,428.10
Facts: In October 2006, while working in the Gulf of Mexico on a pipeline, our client was dispatched to a platform during high seas. The crew boat transfer back onto the main vessel was too rough, the sky too dark, and the crew basket twisted so violently that our client was injured and a fellow crewmember was thrown overboard and killed.
Total Settlement:$525,000
Client Received Total:$293,306.97
Facts: Our client was injured in March 2008 while employed as a deckhand aboard a vessel. His employer failed to provide non-skid on parts of the deck, causing him to fall and injure his neck and back.
Total Settlement:$500,000
Client Received Total:$280,756.52
Facts: Our client was injured July 2008 while working as a captain aboard a fishing vessel while it was docked at a shipyard pier. He sustained injuries when he stepped on a ladder which was not properly secured, causing him to fall and injure his back.
Total Settlement:$435,994.09
Client Received Total:$264,074.81
Facts: In April 2006, our client was working as an oiler on a vessel and was ordered to put a door back up. One end of the door was not hooked up correctly. The ship moved and the door fell on our client. This falling door caused a ruptured disk, pinched nerve, and radicular pain, and reactivated a previous neck injury.
Total Settlement:$397,525
Client Received Total:$207,205.84
Facts: Our client was injured in October 2007, while employed as a cook aboard a jack-up rig. He was hurt while being transported to the rig. He was dropped on the deck of the rig by personnel basket. After exiting the basket, he had to walk across a deck cluttered with men exiting the rig. The deck had luggage and materials strewn across it by both the arriving and departing crew. He tripped trying to get into crew quarters, injuring his back.
Total Settlement:$374,000
Client Received Total:$169,254.95
Facts: Our client injured his back in April 2008 while employed as a deckhand aboard a barge. He was carrying a hose full of oil several feet to the containment area to drain, when the hose snapped back and he sustained an injury to his lower back.
Total Settlement:$350,000 plus payment for future surgery
Client Received Total:$202,975
Facts: While working as an able bodied seaman, our client was ordered to untangle/retrieve a mooring line in rough seas, causing him to be thrown down and washed into pipes by the mooring line. As a result of the incident, he injured his back, hip, shoulders and arms.
Total Settlement:$300,000
Client Received Total:$183,050.55
Facts: Our client was a tankerman aboard a river tug that was struck from behind by another vessel in the Gulf of Mexico in March 2008. His injuries were the result of the collision. He hurt his back but was not operated on.
Total Settlement:$300,000
Client Received Total:$167,306.52
Facts: While working as an A/B seaman aboard a vessel being positioned for dockside mooring, our client was ordered by the captain to take the mooring lines to power. Before the lines could be secured, the captain ordered the vessel’s tug to be let go. A line snapped, impacting our client and knocking him unconscious. He sustained moderate to severe traumatic brain injury; post-traumatic cognitive deficits affecting memory and executive function; vertigo, nausea and vomiting; rotator cuff injury; tibia fracture; chronic knee, leg ankle, foot, shoulder and thumb pain; and chronic headaches, among other injuries.
Judgment: $2,000,000
Client Received: $1,277,215.64 plus $84,226 for future medical
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