NEW ORLEANS – A drilling barge worker recently filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana, New Orleans Division, claiming he was injured while working aboard a vessel owned and operated by Baywater Drilling in waters off of the Louisiana coast south of Lafitte.
The complaint filed May 29 by Michael Carradine, a Mississippi resident, claims he injured his back, including damage to discs, while moving a steel beam across an open area of the drilling barge, the Timbalier, on Dec. 30, 2017.
The filing claims Carradine was paid $21.50 per hour plus overtime as a floorhand aboard the barge and that he has been unable to work since the injury.
The complaint seeks to recover past medical expenses estimated at $3,500, as well as maintenance of $55 a day and economic damages in an amount to be proved at trial.
The complaint also accuses Baywater Drilling of negligence and argues that the defendant did not provide “a reasonably safe place to work” and that the lack of a hazard analysis plan and other safeguards contributed to the injury.
The complaint also states, “Defendant's vessel was unseaworthy in that it lacked the proper equipment necessary to install the steel beam without the requirement of excessive force on the part of plaintiff and his co-workers."
The complaint, filed on behalf of Carradine by the law office of S. Reed Morgan PC, is seeking compensation for past, present and future earnings and medical expenses as well as damages for pain, misery and mental anguish, estimating the total to be in excess of $1 million.
The plaintiff also demands a trial by jury.