Our client was injured while working on a pipe lay barge. He tripped and fell over an upright metal flange directly across an upper deck stairway landing. He sustained a 40% permanent impairment of the left leg and two surgeries were needed.
One defendant settled prior to trial for a confidential sum. We tried the case against the other defendant in Federal Court and are pleased to have won a $745,000 jury verdict for our client. Asserting a Louisiana law “garde” claim instead of a GML negligence claim avoided preemption of state law, preserved our client’s jury trial, and made it impossible for Defendant to maintain a “we had no duty to a fellow independent contractor” defense.
