“They helped me navigate the waters that were uncharted for me”

Our client, a chief cook, slipped and fell on a vessel while carrying heavy firefighting equipment during a drill. After investigating the case, our team found it had rained just before the drill, proving the company’s negligence contributed to the accident. The company failed to clean the wet surfaces, creating hazardous conditions that directly led to our client's injury. Facing resistance from his company, he quickly realized he needed to consult a lawyer for assistance.

Read what our client has to say about his experience with VB Attorneys: 

"I was Chief Cook. I was in charge of the day-to-day operations of taking on stores and putting stores off, lunch and supper. The chief steward did the ordering and did the breakfast. I did lunch and supper, and he would do the salad bar because you got to feed the people. I mean, keep 'em working, you got to feed them. So that was my primary duty. But I am a retired executive chef."

The day of the accident

"The day before, it happened on November 2nd. So November 1st, we boarded the vessel. We got up, I got up at like four o'clock in the morning to drive in to go to a clinic to take a COVID test. Then we were all confined to one van to go to the vessel. We boarded. We've got to get situated.

Then we immediately turn to and go start unpacking groceries that are coming in for a long trip, probably 12 pallets. So we're quite busy. Then we go and put up groceries again after the evening meal because we have pallets and pallets of it, and not all of it goes in the same place. So I went to bed, got up, turned to at 5:30 in the morning, went to work, and then had a scheduled meeting at one o'clock with the second mate, who is the officer of safety and induction onto the ship. Paperwork. All that goes with it. Signing on foreign articles, going to international, they do a lot of paperwork. So we did all that. 

We had a fire drill at 1400 on November 2nd, and myself and the chief steward reported to the medical officer. He gave us instructions to go all the way up to the bridge, five decks, grab all the firefighting equipment.

The chief steward, he grabbed the heavier one. He was a couple of years younger than me, which was the coat, the helmet, the boots, the jacket, the pants, the whole nine yards for fighting on fire. I grabbed the self-contained breathing apparatus that the firefighters wear. We’re going down the ladder. Well, next to the last one, I almost made it next to the last step where the handrail goes down to the deck. 

My hand caught it and it bent my fingertips back where they touched my forearm. You don't want to do this. It will do it, but you don't want to do it. Anyway, I've had a couple of surgeries and now I’m right-handed now, I'm not left-handed anymore, but I'm okay. All I need to do is write.”

The decision to hire a Texas lawyer

“It's a dangerous industry. And the other companies I never sued. I was in one accident where the ship caught on fire, and killed six people. I lived, but they took care of everything. The medical bills, I still got paid. And there was somebody that held your hand all the way through the process. This company, they're not like that. I felt all the resistance. I had to pay for a couple of things, going to the doctor by myself, and then they reimbursed me. But they didn't have it set up. They didn't do it upfront. And I'm like, look guys, I already see how y'all are going. I need some help. So that's why I called y'all. I'd have been the only shark in the tank with no fin.”

A substantial settlement for our client

After conducting a thorough investigation of the case, we successfully negotiated a substantial settlement for our client, ensuring he received the compensation he deserved for his injuries and suffering.

When asked about his plans for the settlement money, he responded:

“The only plans I have, paying off my credit cards and paying off my card, that's it. That's the only plan I got. Just sit on it and be comfortable. That's it. You know, If I'm going to go buy a new easy chair, I'm going to go buy a new easy chair.”

"Y’all helped me through it"

“I never want to do it again, it was a really - probably 120 physical therapy sessions. I don't know how many stitches, a couple of surgeries. I don't wish it on anybody, but if it has to happen, the company won't do the right thing. That's the reason there is a legal system. I do appreciate it because I spent everything I had to get back into. And then the second day on the ship this happened. I went, oh my God, what am I going to do? And y'all helped me through it. So kudos to everybody. To put it in seamen’s terms, they helped me navigate the waters that were uncharted for me.”