Kristin Askelson and Tony Mcauley | Times-Picayune | New Orleans Attorney

 Kristin Askelson and Tony Mcauley | Times-Picayune | New Orleans Attorney

The wife of the employee who is thought to have died after the boat overturned in court files is suing the boat owner

Seacor Marine Holdings, a business owner of Seacor Power, is facing potential legal risks in several parts after a shipwreck in the Gulf of Mexico, according to lawyers.

 

Kristin Askelson and Tony Mcauley | Times-Picayune | New Orleans Attorney

The wife of a boatman who was on an oil tanker when it capsized in the Gulf of Mexico has sued the ship's owners, alleging gross negligence and violations of a maritime organization law, according to NBC News.Hannah Daspit of New Iberia is the surviving partner of 30-year-old Dylan Daspit, who is thought to have died after Seacor Power overthrew April 13 near Port Fourchon. He filed a lawsuit Wednesday in Houston. He wants more than $ 25 million in damages.

Seven of Seacor Power's 19 employees, including Dylan Daspit, had not been available until Thursday afternoon. The bodies of six staff members have been recovered.

The remaining six who entered Seacor Power were rescued hours after a cruise ship capsized in a storm that produced strong winds.

The lawsuit, seeking $ 25 million in damages, is alleged to be a violation of the Federal Jones Act, which governs maritime law; and negligence, gross negligence and industry incompetence.

The Daspit family has come out in the open to comment on how respondents from the U.S. Coast Coast and Talos Energy responded to the incident.Scott Daspit, who is not a party to the case, tried to take matters into his own hands early in an effort to rescue his son.

 

"I'm here for all the missing people," Scott Daspit said in a tearful Facebook video published Thursday. "I want everyone to know that Seacor has been trying. They really have it. But I'm here to tell you the Coast Guard needs to be promoted in their organization. Second: The company they work for, Talos Energy, should be ashamed of them. CEO - no one has ever tried to contact or send a representative here. "Families are in pain, and no one in that working company has the compassion to come here to visit us, and he never thought of trying to help us with the airlines."

Scott Daspit also said that people working overseas have been providing more useful information than officials as families continue their efforts to find their loved ones.

On Monday, the Coast Guard withdrew its search of more than 9,000 square miles in the Gulf, but divers continued their search for the wrecked ship and found the sixth body on Tuesday, that of Quinon Odell Pitre of Arnaudville.

The United Cajun Navy continues its airstrikes using donations to pay for fuel.

Legal risks and remedial measures

Seacor Marine Holdings, a business owner of Seacor Power, is facing potential legal risks in several parts after a shipwreck in the Gulf of Mexico, according to lawyers.

The tragedy happened about 11 years after the Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf that killed 11 workers and swept a wave of criminal investigations and control of BP and its contractors, resulting in billions of dollars in compensation and penalties.

While the sinking of Seacor Power does not involve a major environmental catastrophe, as happened after the Deepwater Horizon explosion, attorneys who were involved in the Deepwater Horizon case said there was a similarity about how such cases could be court.

Scott Bickford, a Martzell & Bickford attorney in New Orleans, who filed the first case in the Deepwater Horizon case on behalf of Shane Rostho's widow, who died in the blaze, said there was a strong possibility that judges in cases of death should not be eligible for staff members.

 

'The worst situation'

"The worst case scenario for the companies involved is in the event that they receive disciplinary action," Bickford said. In such cases, the judges are not limited to the amount that they can give to the families of the deceased staff members.

In Deepwater Horizon, all death-dealing cases can be resolved out of court before going to trial. The locations were not officially announced, but the lawyers involved said Transocean, the owner of the rig, paid at least $ 8 million per family, while BP paid the most.

The total, which may have been just over $ 100 million, was just a fraction of the billions of dollars paid to companies. But it was much more than that accommodation was restricted by the Death of the High Seas Act or the Jones Act, laws designed to protect ship owners and reduce compensation.

The main difference between the case of Deepwater Horizon and Seacor Power is, of course, the size associated with the wealth of the companies involved. BP alone had a market value ahead of Deepwater Horizon of about $ 180 billion and made billions in profits a year.

 

'Credit Limit'

Seacor Marine, on the other hand, costs more than $ 100 million based on its value. It lost more than $ 170 million in the two years to the end of 2020 and was hit hard by low oil prices even before the epidemic.

The company's stock dropped to $ 4.44 per share on Tuesday, down 13.8% since the boat capsized, and gained 20 cents to close on Wednesday at $ 4.64. The company had a net worth of $ 33 million at the end of last year and assets worth just over $ 1 billion. Ships make about $ 750 million of its total cargo. Its long-term debt is over $ 600 million.

 

Ian Taylor, a lawyer for Lewis, Kullman Sterbcow and Abramson in New Orleans, who was part of the plaintiffs' case in the Deepwater Horizon case, noted that Transocean, although it eventually settled with the victims, had quickly tried to reduce its debt.

Within a few days of the catastrophe, the company filed a "credit limit" action under the law since 1851, which was applied.