February 24, 2011

Jury clears Gloucester boat in on-board injury suit
By Times Staff
The Gloucester Daily Times Thu Feb 24, 2011, 10:47 PM EST


A federal jury has rejected a civil claim by a crew member who sought back pay and other compensation from a Gloucester fishing boat owner and captain after he was allegedly injured on the job nearly four years ago.

Eddy I. Mejia, a crewman who had worked aboard the Gloucester-based lobster boat Michael & Kristen since the 1990s, had sought to recoup more than $50,000 in back pay he claims he lost by not being able to work on the boat from October 2007 through 2008.

But Mejia said he was no longer able to work aboard the vessel after sustaining a right knee injury "on or about" July 27, 2007, while aboard the Michael & Kristen, a 77-foot offshore lobster boat.

According to court documents, Mejia contended that the defendants — identified as boat owner Charles Raymond of Fair Wind Inc. in Beverly, and veteran Michael & Kristen Capt. Ron Davis, who lives in Rochester, N.H., were "negligent" and that the ship was "unseaworthy," in part because a rubber mat in the breaking area was too small, because there was oil on the deck and in the breaking areas, and because the "checker" had a sharp corner, where Mejia claimed he had hit his knee.

But the jury rejected Mejia's claims, essentially finding that he could not provide evidence that the vessel was unseaworthy and that the boat was a proximate cause of Mejia's injury.

According to testimony and court documents, Mejia had taken a lobster trap in his hands and turned to the right to put the trap on a table. As he did, he claimed, he "unintentionally" stepped off the rubber mat. His right foot slipped on water and oil on the deck, and his right knee "slammed" into the corner of the drainage table.

Raymond and Davis, however, argued that — while the crew was working in the area — no one witnessed the accident, and Mejia continued to work, completing all 17 trawls that day.

Mejia also did not seek any medical attention over the course of the trip, the defense argued, and Mejia went out on five more trips before concluding his work as a Michael & Kristen deckhand in late October or early November of that year.

In arguing for dismissal, the defense also noted that the defendant has "met all of its maintenance and cure obligations" to Mejia. The deckhand received care coverage from the boat's insurance company, Raymond said, but fishermen do not otherwise qualify for workers' compensation insurance.

Beyond the $50,000 he claimed to have lost from October 2007 through 2008, Mejia sought an additional $2,261.47 per month since that time, saying that — while he landed a light duty job as a security guard in October 2008, he was able to earn $440 a week, "about half of what he earned as a commercial fishermen."

The jury ruling, however, holds neither Raymond, Davis nor the Michael & Kristen liable on any count.

The Michael & Kristen regularly harvests lobsters far offshore on trips that can range up to nine days.

Twice in the last two years — in December 2009 and October 2010 — the Michael & Kristen needed Coast Guard towing assistance after becoming disabled more than 150 miles off the coast. In the first of those incidents, the Coast Guard cutter Escanaba had to tow the Michael Kristen and its five-member crew for three days over rough, stormy seas before safely reaching port in Provincetown.