NEW ORLEANS — A deckhand from St. Charles Parish is suing a vessel operator, citing alleged unsafe work environment.
Derrick Baker filed a complaint on Sept. 13 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana against American River Transportation Co. LLC, alleging that the vessel operator failed to provide with a safe place to work.
According to the complaint, the plaintiff alleges that in November 2015, while he was working aboard the defendant's M/V Louisiana Sun, he was assigned to assist with the repositioning of the barges when the wires snapped and forcefully struck him in the face, breaking teeth and injuring his eye. The plaintiff holds American River Transportation Co. LLC responsible because the defendant allegedly failed to properly train and supervise its employees and failed to warn its crew about the dangers aboard the M/V Louisiana Sun, its equipment and barges.
The plaintiff requests a trial by jury and seeks judgment against the defendant in an amount sufficient to adequately compensate him for his damages, plus interest, for maintenance and cure, costs of this suit and for all other equitable relief. He is represented by Ronna M. Steele of Law Office of Ronna M. Steele in Gretna.
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana Case number 2:16-cv-14601