Steele
NEW ORLEANS - After his leg was crushed between a lifeboat and an offshore drilling rig, a Plaquemines Parish seaman has filed a lawsuit that claims that he was not warned about dangers aboard the rig.
Robby Lee Russell filed suit against Transocean Offshore Deepwater Drilling Inc. on May 4 in federal court in New Orleans.
The alleged incident occurred on April 12 while Russell was assisting in a quarterly inspection of the lifeboats aboard the Deepwater Nautilus. Russell states that he was accompanying a crew on a test voyage and he was assigned to return the lifeboat to its normal position.
He claims that the life boat suddenly accelerated into the side of the offshore drilling rig and his right leg was crushed between the lifeboat and the Deepwater Nautilus.
The defendant is accused of negligence for failing to properly supervise its employees, failing to warn about the dangers aboard the Deepwater Nautilus, failing to properly train or supervise crewmen, failing to provide Russell with a safe place to work, and failing to adequately equip the Deepwater Nautilus vessel with proper equipment required to perform certain operations.
The plaintiff is asking the court for an award of damages for physical pain and suffering, mental pain, suffering and anguish, medical expenses, lost wages, loss of earning capacity, disfigurement and disability, loss of enjoyment of life, maintenance, cure, interest, attorney's fees and court costs.
Russell is represented by Gretna attorney Ronna M. Steele.
U.S. District Judge Nannette Jolivette Brown is assigned to the case.
Case No. 2:12-cv-01145