Wife Of Crew Member Who Lost Life In Lift Boat Disaster Files Multimillion Dollar Lawsuit
Seacor Power has got into a legal hassle after the wife of one of the deceased victims of the lift boat incident has filed a lawsuit. Now, experts are fearing that several such lawsuits could be filed against the company for this disaster.
The lawsuits claims could amount to millions of dollars if more survivors and families of the victims decide to file lawsuits. One such lawsuit has already been filed in Texas by Hannah Daspit, wife of the deceased Dylan Daspit.
Hannah has filed a $25 million claim for negligence and federal maritime law violations. She has claimed this compensation from the ship owners for their alleged negligence in the incident. Even the owner of the vessel, Seacor Marine, is expected to file a lawsuit soon.
According to maritime disaster lawyer Walter Leger, Jr. the incident has taken away the primary breadwinners of many families so litigation and compensation claims are natural. Irrespective of the difficulty these families will eventually seek legal counsel to know exactly what happened to their loved ones.
For the company, it has become crucial to indulge in a proper investigation and determine the facts, the causes. Seacor Marine is likely to file a suit in Federal Court to claim “limitation of liability”.
The only way for the company is to portray it as a navigational error by the captain. The limitation of liability can only be proved if no involvement of the shore resources is found.
Also, the fact that the vessel has a relatively small value can act in favour of the company as that will entail that they can’t support the families with compensation.
The President of Seacor Marine has already underlined that the onus was on the Captain alone.
It’s expected that the captain will be questioned about the instructions given by his bosses regarding the urgency of business because of which boat couldn’t wait for favourable weather.
It’s likely that some of the survivors and victims’ families will file a lawsuit under a “death on the high seas act” as the vessel sank 3 miles offshore. In that case, the compensation will be determined on the said act.
It’s likely that the actual pecuniary damage will be paid instead of the loss of a relationship or the compensation for pain and suffering.
As of now, the NTSB has started investigating the matter which is likely to be completed in the 2 years.
Reference: nbcnews.com
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