Maritime Injury Law Blog

A crewman from the 792 foot containership CAP GILBERT has been reported as having fallen overboard and is missing 450 miles south of Adak Island, Alaska. The Liberian flagged CAP GILBERT was enroute from China to Mexico when the crewman fell into seas estimated at 20 feet. The vessel contacted the United States Coast Guard to assist in the search for the missing 26 year old crewman from Burma. The Coast Guard search has been suspended after searching nearly 900 square miles with no sign of the missing crewman.

Posted by Beard Stacey & Jacobsen, LLP at 10:29 AM | Permalink

A small Beechcraft aircraft carrying two passengers is reported to have crashed into the water near Sand Point, Alaska. A debris field has been located, but the passengers of the plane have not been located. Coast Guard vessels and helicopters are actively searching the area for possible survivors. The circumstances of the crash are unknown and under investigation.

Posted by Beard Stacey & Jacobsen, LLP at 10:32 AM | Permalink

Three fishermen have been rescued from a sinking fishing vessel near Kodiak Island. The crewmen aboard the fishing vessel, Butterfly, reported their vessel was taking on water and their pumps were unable to keep up with the flooding. A nearby fishing vessel, the Tempest, came to the rescue of the sinking vessel’s crew. The Coast Guard lowered additional pumps to the Butterfly, and the Tempest was able to tow the vessel to Old Harbor on Kodiak Island. The cause of the flooding is still under investigation.

Posted by Beard Stacey & Jacobsen, LLP at 1:19 PM | Permalink

American Seafoods has been ordered to produce the Northern Hawk for inspection by an injured seaman. The matter arises out of a plate freezer accident on board the Northern Hawk in 2008. American Seafoods had refused to allow the inspection unless the injured seaman first agreed to have his deposition taken. Under Washington Court rules there is no priority given to a vessel owner permitting them to take a deposition prior to responding to discovery requests. In this case, the injured seaman had been seeking to inspect the vessel for many months prior to American Seafoods requesting the crewman’s deposition. The Court ordered American Seafoods to produce the Northern Hawk at a mutually agreeable time prior to the vessel departing for 2010 Pollock season, and that the seaman’s deposition was to be conducted only after the vessel inspection. The Court further held that the seaman and his legal experts did not need to sign liability waivers as a condition of inspecting the vessels. American Seafoods will be required to operate and allow measurement of the plate freezer and the plate freezer controls during the inspection. The seaman will be required to reimburse American Seafoods sixty dollars for operating the plate freezers during the vessel inspection. The seaman was represented by Beard Stacey & Jacobsen. The case is Sanchez v. American Seafoods, King County Cause No. 09-2-12715-8-SEA.

In cases involving serious personal injury, the inspection of the vessel by experts selected by the injured seaman’s lawyers is a critical piece of the process of evidence gathering. It is important that all machinery be operational at the time of the inspection and that the accident site be fully photographed and videotaped. What type of experts conduct the inspection is dependent upon the type of equipment and injuries involved. It is important to document the accident site before changes are made to the ship’s equipment involved in the accident.

Posted by Beard Stacey & Jacobsen, LLP at 3:46 PM | Permalink

Three Alaska fishing vessels have been ordered by the United States Coast Guard to return to port for violations of safety regulations. One of the vessels had an expired life raft and the other two vessels lacked primary safety devices. Two of the vessels also had expired documentation. Two of the vessels were home ported in Craig, Alaska and the third vessel was from Klawock.

Coast Guard regulations require life rafts to be repacked annually and the hydrostatic releases must be regularly replaced and serviced. The Coast Guard conducts random vessel inspections of commercial fishing vessels. Remarkably, fishing vessels have few safety regulations that apply to them yet fishing vessels such as these still fail to comply with basic regulations relating to life saving equipment. In the past twenty years, epirbs, life rafts, and survival suits have allowed crewmen to survive many vessel sinkings. These three cited vessels will have to prove compliance with Coast Guard regulations before they can return to sea. Voluntary dockside safety inspections are available from the Coat Guard to all commercial fishing vessels.

Failure to maintain life safety equipment may render a vessel unseaworthy and result in imposition of liability in cases involving injuries and wrongful deaths.

Posted by Beard Stacey & Jacobsen, LLP at 4:32 PM | Permalink