Trial Magazine

As Jay Rivera, a state-commissioned pilot and tugboat operator, stepped down into the engine room of the M/V Tarpon, he rolled his ankle on a hatch cover situated about one-and-a-half inches above the engine room’s deck. He suffered a fractured fifth metatarsal, which necessitated that he wear an air cast for approximately five months.

After Rivera, 41, returned to work, he experienced significant pain. He was later diagnosed as having a nonunion of the metatarsal and underwent open reduction and internal fixation surgery to repair it. Despite the surgery, Rivera’s pain worsened, and he was subsequently diagnosed as having reflex sympathetic dystrophy.

Rivera, who incurred medical expenses totaling $35,000, has not returned to his job, at which he had earned $750,000 annually.

Rivera sued the M/V Tarpon, its corporate owner and operator, and its parent company, alleging the vessel was not seaworthy in violation of general maritime law. The plaintiff claimed that the defendants should have fixed the hatch cover so that it was flush with the deck or painted the edge of the cover a different color than the deck.

The court awarded more than $11.69 million.

Citation: Rivera v. Kirby Corp., No. 3:17-cv-111 (S.D. Tex. Aug. 29, 2019).

Plaintiff counsel: AAJ member John W. Stevenson Jr., Houston; and Paxton N. Crew, League City, Texas.

Plaintiff experts: Dan Cliffe, economics, New Orleans; and Wallace Stanfill, rehabilitation, and Reginald McKamie Sr., industry standards and shipboard safety, both of Houston.

Defense experts: David Baskin, neurosurgery, David Martyn, human factors, and Thomas King, vocational rehabilitation, all of Houston; and James Yeager Jr., economics, Missouri City, Texas.