Case at a glance
- Result: Confidential Settlement
- Practice: Maritime Injury Law
- Attorney: Vuk Vujasinovic
A battery failure before departure
Abelardo and his family worked as oyster fishermen and boat captains in southern Louisiana. After the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010, he joined cleanup work with a fleet out of St. Bernard. His son ran Abelardo’s own boat while Abelardo captained another oyster boat.
One morning in August 2010, Abelardo, his wife, his daughter, and three deckhands prepared to leave port. The boat’s battery had died. While the boat remained connected to shore power, Abelardo went into the engine compartment and asked someone to pass him a battery charger.
As he bent toward the low area where he needed to plug in the charger, a passing boat created a wake. The oyster boat rocked, and Abelardo lost his balance. The engine compartment had no handholds or rails within his reach. His right temple struck the ceiling, knocking off his hard hat. He then fell backward, struck his head on a battery, and lost consciousness.
A concussion and continuing numbness
Abelardo’s wife heard him fall and called the deckhands to help get him out of the boat. An ambulance took him to a hospital, where doctors diagnosed a severe concussion.
Later, Abelardo experienced widespread numbness. He received treatment from a neurologist but reported little improvement. He said he could no longer lift things or return to the physical work of oyster fishing and oil-spill cleanup.
The company’s claims adjuster directed Abelardo to certain doctors. Abelardo and his wife turned to Vuk, who helped pursue his Jones Act case against his employer and obtain care from his own doctors.
An inspection of the engine compartment
Vuk and his co-counsel retained a maritime expert to inspect the vessel. The lawsuit alleged that the vessel’s unseaworthy condition contributed to the injury. The employer denied that position and disputed responsibility for Abelardo’s continuing symptoms.
The expert concluded that the engine compartment needed handholds or rails because vessel movement could cause someone working there to lose balance. He also criticized the battery failure. In his opinion, the company should have inspected the electrical system and batteries so that Abelardo would not have needed to plug in a charger.
Those opinions addressed two parts of the incident: the condition that brought Abelardo into the compartment and the lack of something he could grasp when the boat moved.
A medical-examination dispute
The employer sought a defense medical examination. Vuk and co-counsel challenged the request and succeeded in preventing the examination. The employer continued to dispute responsibility for Abelardo’s numbness.
The case approached a trial scheduled for late April 2014. In early April, deposition testimony addressed the company’s response to the incident. A company representative testified that the company had followed its policy and had not sent anyone to the dock to investigate Abelardo’s accident.
A settlement before trial
The parties reached a confidential settlement shortly before the scheduled trial. The agreement resolved Abelardo’s case after the dispute over the vessel’s condition, his medical care, and his continuing symptoms.
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