NEW ORLEANS – A Michigan-based steel importer and two insurance companies are suing three barge owners for more than $250,000, claiming they mishandled and damaged a shipment of steel.
Metal One America, in conjunction with insurance companies TM Claims Service, Inc, and Tokio Marine & Nichido Fire Insurance Co., from Japan, filed a lawsuit on Aug. 8 against barge operators MBLX LLC, American Commercial Lines LLC and Commercial Barge Line Co., in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana, claiming the companies caused damage to consignments of steel while sailing.
Metal One and the insurers claimed in court documents that a load of coiled high carbon rods that was transferred into the barges at the port of New Orleans for transportation along the Mississippi River on June 23, 2016, was damaged upon arrival at its destination.
Attorney Francis Barry, Jr.
| Deutsch Kerrigan
As stated in the complaint, the load "was in good order and condition" when arriving in New Orleans, and that it was discharged the same way when loading into the barges. The final destination for the cargo was the Cherokee Marine Terminal, in Memphis, Tenn.
The document also mentioned that "while in the care, custody and control of the defendant barge lines, the cargo consignments in the Barges were discovered at final destination at Cherokee Marine Terminal, Memphis, Tennessee, to be in a damaged condition and otfor herwise depreciated in value, due to leaks in the barges’ hatch covers, which wetted the tire cord quality coils, all in violation of the defendant vessels’ and defendants’ duties and obligations as common carriers of goods by water for hire."
After finding damages in the coils, the plaintiffs considered that those were a result of "the negligence of the defendants, and/or the unseaworthiness and defect of the Barges, and/or through the neglect and fault of the defendants," the complaint mentioned.
Metal One America, TM Claims Service, and Tokio Marine are asking for $264,951.79 in damages, which corresponds to the amount Tokio Marine had to pay, after investigating the damages to the shipment.
The plaintiffs are represented by Francis Barry, Jr. and Michael Amy, Deutsch Kerrigan, LLP of New Orleans. No judge been assigned yet.
U.S District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana Case number 2:18-cv-07501-EEF-JVM