Cruise Ship Law

RANDOLPH (RANDY) WALLACE HARPER, ETC. VERSUS FALRIGOFFSHORE, INC., ET AL.

00 694-CA
COURT OF APPEAL OF LOUISIANA, THIRD CIRCUIT
00 694 (La.App. 3 Cir, 12/20/00); 2000 La. App. LEXIS 3383
December 20, 2000, Rendered

OVERVIEW: Plaintiff was asked to weld a rain shield on defendant's oil rig. He was on a ladder, reaching for a sledge hammer which was being handed to him from above, when he fell and broke his heel bone and injured his back and neck. Plaintiff filed suit against defendants, rig owner and insurer, alleging unseaworthiness and negligence under the Jones Act. The trial court assessed 75 percent fault to plaintiff and 25 percent fault to defendant, and awarded plaintiff medical costs, general damages, loss of household services, and lost wages. All parties appealed. The court found that an unsafe work method which partially caused plaintiff to fall was an isolated incident of operational negligence, not a pervasive condition which rendered the rig unseaworthy. The trial court's findings of fault were not manifestly erroneous. The general damages award was not an abuse of trial discretion. The trial court's future wage loss calculation was in error because it was not based on plaintiff's gross wages at the time of his injury. The trial court also erred in allowing plaintiff to sue defendant insurer under the direct action statute, because the rig was not in Louisiana waters.
OUTCOME: The court affirmed the trial court's finding that the rig was seaworthy, its fault finding, its fault apportionment between the parties, and the award of general damages. It reversed the future wage loss award, and remanded for a new trial on that issue. It also reversed the trial court's decision not to dismiss defendant insurer from the case, and ordered its dismissal.