When a maritime-related personal injury occurs, Fisher Maritime can provide the benefit of our experience in defending or asserting claims resulting from improper design, construction, equipment, operation, or training. Seafarers, vessel passengers and shipyard workers are affected by a variety of codes, statutes, and standards. The injured’s status (crewmember, passenger, etc.) and the provisions of statutes such as the Code of Federal Regulations, OSHA, etc. may be material to a case and our familiarity with these regulations, as well as industry custom and practice, enables us to develop analyses that are central to the issues. Representative matters in which the services of Fisher Maritime have been retained include the following
Ore Carrier Deckhand Injured on Dock
A case that entailed a personal injury claim in connection with the docking of a Great Lakes Ore Carrier vessel in Duluth, MN. The plaintiff, who was a deckhand aboard the 730-foot ore carrier, had been put ashore to affix the vessel’s mooring wires to bollard-type fittings on the marine terminal dock at which the vessel was berthing. During the mooring process, plaintiff sustained an injury to his left leg and knee when he slipped on loose taconite pellets and fell to the concrete surface of the dock. He was transported to a nearby hospital and, after evaluation, was provided with a written instruction to arrange medical transportation home. However, the vessel’s captain simply left plaintiff in a local hotel with only a small amount of cash and no credit card. As a result of an ensuing lengthy bus journey, plaintiff developed deep vein thrombosis. Fisher Maritime was engaged to review and analyze information produced in discovery, perform dock inspections and provide expertise in subjects that included customary shiphandling and docking procedures, statutory OSHA regulations pertaining to marine terminal conditions, and master/vessel owner obligations for care of injured crewmembers.
Operator Catapulted From Boom Lift When Loading on Barge
A case that entailed a personal injury claim by a plaintiff who was operating a motorized boom lift with an aerial work platform manufactured by JLG. The lift had been rented by plaintiff’s employer in connection with a project that entailed removal of stucco masonry siding from the exterior walls of a multi-story waterfront condominium complex. In order to perform the work scope, the plan was to drive the motorized lift onto a work barge that would then be transported to and secured in the waters along the rear face of the building complex. The plaintiff attempted to drive the lift onto the barge by operating it from the controls in the lift bucket, but he did not don the bucket’s safety harness. However, when attempting to drive the lift onto the barge, its front tires jammed at the barge’s deck edge, causing that end of the lift to tip abruptly downward and catapult the unharnessed Plaintiff out of the bucket and onto an adjacent pier. Fisher Maritime was engaged to review and analyze information produced in discovery, perform vessel, lift and site inspections, and provide expertise in subjects including statutory OSHA regulations pertaining to movement of cargo and/or other materials between shore and vessels, including, but not limited to use of ramps and safety harness requirements, responsibility for loading plan development and factors associated with vehicle loading onto barges.
Fatal Pontoon Boat Capsizing
A case that entailed a wrongful death claim in connection with the capsizing of a 22-foot pontoon boat while it was being used in a commercial marine construction project upon the waters of the Potomac River between Washington, DC and Alexandria, VA. The boat’s operator was an employee of a contractor that had been engaged in to accomplish construction/repair tasks at the Francis Scott Key Bridge under a contract with The District of Columbia. As a result of substantially stronger-than-normal current flow in the river on the day of the subject accident, the boat collided with the bow of another construction barge that was being used in the project. That collision, and the fast-moving river current, caused the boat to roll 90º or more over onto one side, which in turn caused its operator to become trapped in the boat underwater where he ultimately perished. Fisher Maritime was engaged to review and analyze information produced in discovery, perform vessel and site inspections, and provide expertise in subjects including statutory DC Municipal Regulations for operation of vessels on the subject waters of the Potomac River, applicable and statutory OSHA regulations, employer duties to furnish a vessel fit for its intended purpose and to properly train vessel operators, customary practices for monitoring of weather and river flow conditions, and maritime doctrine inherent in the Pennsylvania Rule.
Shipyard Welder Falls From Vessel to Drydock Floor
A case that entailed a personal injury claim by a shipyard welder who fell approximately 18-19 feet from a drydocked vessel to the floor of the drydock. This plaintiff was in the process of departing from the vessel following a rain shower to retrieve needed materials ashore. While descending a short and wet vertical ladder that was attached to the side of the vessel’s superstructure, his foot slipped and he fell backward from the ladder. Normally, he would have fallen into the vessel’s outer railing and then to the main deck area between the side of the superstructure and that outer railing, However, a section of that outer railing had been removed by the shipyard in connection with other ongoing work. As a result, plaintiff fell all the way to the drydock floor. Fisher Maritime was engaged to review and analyze information produced in discovery and provide expertise in subjects including statutory OSHA regulations pertaining to protection of shipyard workers, including, but not limited to guarding of deck edges and requirements for fall protection, as well as New York Labor Law and New York Industrial Code requirements for working at elevated heights in shipyards.
Explosion Aboard Marine Environmental Response Vessel
A case that entailed a personal injury claim in connection with an explosion that occurred in an under-deck compartment of a Marine Environmental Response Vessel that was attending a capsized automobile-carrying vessel that had grounded near the port of Brunswick, GA. The explosion was the result of a leaking fuel line that permitted gasoline to accumulate in an under-deck compartment housing the starting batteries for the vessel’s engines. The combination of inadequate compartment ventilation, along with a loose battery terminal connection, ignited the compartment vapors upon an engine start and caused plaintiff, who had been seated on an ice chest situated on the hatch cover over the compartment in which the explosion occurred, to be blown upward five feet or more into the air. Fisher Maritime was engaged to review and analyze information produced in discovery, perform a vessel inspection and provide expertise in subjects including compartment atmosphere flammability range, statutory US Coast Guard regulations for compartment ventilation, and owner responsibilities for vessel maintenance and duties to furnish a vessel fit for its intended purpose and duties to longshore workers.
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Fisher International Maritime Consultants, LLC (“FIMC”)