NEW ORLEANS – A seaman alleges his employer did not pay maintenance and cure benefits and that this alleged inaction caused him to sell his family home.
Karl Helmer Sr. filed a complaint on Dec. 23 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana against Laborde Marine Management LLC alleging unseaworthiness and negligence.
According to the complaint, the plaintiff alleges that between July 2016 and November 2016, during his voyage aboard defendant's M/V G. Frederick, his continuing symptoms of lower extremities pain worsened and was required to undergo medical procedures. The plaintiff holds Laborde Marine Management LLC responsible because the defendant allegedly failed and refused to pay maintenance and cure benefits and failed to investigate his continued request for financial and medical assistance. The plaintiff alleges he had to sell his home to survive.
The plaintiff requests a trial by jury and seeks judgment against defendant in an amount as may be proper in the premises, award for appropriate medical care and living expenses, attorney's fees and other damages. He is represented by Bobby J. Delise of Delise & Hall in New Orleans and Alton J. Hall Jr. of Delise & Hall in Covington.
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana Case number 2:16-cv-17777