South Carolina Injury Lawyer Blog

Your lawyers in Charleston at Howell and Christmas, LLC are experienced in representing individuals covered under the Federal Longshoremen and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act in South Carolina. But while the same Act is at discussed in this entry, it has an impact far removed from the Palmetto State. With that being said, the issue of law left to the discretion of the Supreme Court is nonetheless interesting and thought provoking to your Charleston attorneys. Hopefully our readers will agree.

Petitioner, Pacific Operations Offshore, LLP (Pacific), operates two drilling platforms on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) off the coast of California, as well as an onshore oil and gas processing facility. Juan Valladolid was employed as a general manual laborer in Pacific’s oil exploration and extraction business, performing such maintenance tasks as picking up litter, emptying trashcans, washing decks, painting, maintaining equipment, and helping load and unload the platform crane. Mr. Valladolid spent 98 percent of his time on Pacific’s drilling platforms, performing said tasks. The remainder of his time was spent at Pacific’s onshore processing facility, located in Ventura County, California. At Pacific’s onshore facility Mr. Valladolid was responsible for such maintenance duties such as painting, sandblasting, pulling weeds, cleaning drain culverts, and operating a forklift.

While operating a forklift at Pacific’s onshore facility, Mr. Valladolid was involved in a work related accident, which resulted in his death. Respondent, Mr. Valladolid’s widow filed a claim seeking benefits under the Longshoreman and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act (LHWCA) pursuant to the extension of that contained within the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA). Section 1333(b) of OSCLA, the provision involved in this case, makes LHWCA benefits available for the “disability or death of an employee resulting from any injury occurring as the result of operations conducted on the outer Continental Shelf” for the purpose of extracting its natural resources.

The parties agree that §1333(b) covers employees such as oilrig and drilling platform workers working directly on the OCS to extract its natural resources. However, the parties disagree as to whether employees who are involved in extraction operations, but who are injured beyond the OCS (i.e. an onshore operating facility) are also covered under OSCLA.

This dispute focuses on the scope of §1333(b), particularly the meaning of the phrase “any injury occurring as the result of operations on the outer Continental Shelf.” Thus, the question arises, is Respondent entitled to benefits under the provisions of the LHWCA pursuant to the extension of that Act within OCSLA?

Continue reading "Overview of Recent U.S. Supreme Court Decision Concerning Federal Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act" »

Recently, your South Carolina personal injury lawyers learned of three lawsuits being filed against the Carnival Corporation, owners and operators of the Carnival Cruise Line. Earlier this summer, we posted a blog regarding Carnival Cruise Lines, wherein we discussed a handsome sum that was awarded by a jury to the victim of a slip and fall accident, as well as a serious watercraft accident that killed one jet ski rider and injured another. As was mentioned, there are new suits being filed against the cruise line, all of which deal with injuries relating to falls onboard vessels owned and operated by the Carnival Corporation.

The first incident occurred in August of 2010 aboard the Carnival vessel know as the Dream. According to the lawsuit, the plaintiff suffered a fractured leg that required extensive surgery after a slip and fall from a set of stairs on the deck of the vessel. Allegedly, said stairs served a duel purpose, they were used as means for children and young adults to get to the ship's water slide from the pool as well as allow older passengers to make their way up to the Serenity lounge deck. As one can imagine, those leaving the pool to make their way to the top of the water slide are wet, thus leaving a trail of pool water in their wake as they climb the stairs. According to the lawsuit, it is the trail of water left behind by those wet passengers on the stairs that created the unsafe conditions for the Plaintiff, and ultimately resulted in a "violent" fall down the stairs onto the hard deck surface. The suit seeks damages in excess of $15,000 for the accident.

The second incident happened back in October of 2010 when the Plaintiff slipped and fell in the sauna onboard the vessel Paradise. According to the suit, Carnival failed to properly maintain the sauna in which the Plaintiff fell, as well as not provide any material safety measures such as handrails, warning signs, or skid-proof flooring surfaces. Furthermore, the Plaintiff claims that as a fare-paying passenger, Carnival Cruise Line owed a duty to him to exercise reasonable care by maintaining its ship for his safety, as well as the safety for all the passengers onboard at the time of the slip and fall accident. But, because of the conditions of the sauna, Carnival Cruise Line breached that duty and was negligent. The suit does not mention the specific injuries suffered by the Plaintiff; instead it prefers the overarching term of "serious" and seeks damages in excess of $75,000 (exclusive of interest, cost, and attorney's fees) for those serious injuries.

Continue reading "The Carnival Cruise Line Faces More Lawsuits from Passengers' Slip and Fall Injuries" »

For the North Charleston auto accident lawyers it is hard to believe that his been over a year since the British Petroleum (BP) Oil Spill that devastated America's Gulf Coast. A White House energy advisor called it the "worst environmental disaster the U.S. has faced," and it is still very much effecting coastal states, not only in terms of the environment and wildlife, but also economically when one thinks of the formerly thriving tourism and fishing industries in the area.

While much attention over the past year has been focused on the above issues, it seems many have forgotten the explosion at the Deepwater Horizon that incited the three month spew of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, killed 11 workers, and caused serious injuries to 17 others working at the offshore site. Familiar with on the job injuries and deaths, the experienced lawyers at Howell and Christmas, LLC know that the families, communities, and colleagues of the deceased workers have certainly not forgotten their loved ones.

Prior to the explosion that caused the deaths and injuries of Deepwater Horizon workers, the U.S. Coast Guard had issued 18 pollution citations between 2000 and 2010, and had investigated 16 fires and other safety incidents. Also, according to a New York Times article from July 2010, there was a confidential audit conducted by BP seven months before the explosion, and the findings were horrendous. "According, to the September 2009 [audit], four BP officials discovered that Transocean, the rig’s owner, had left 390 repairs undone, including many that were 'high priority,' and would require a total of more than 3,500 hours of labor. It is unclear how many of the problems remained by the day of the catastrophe."

Continue reading "A Look Back at the Deepwater Horizon Explosion" »

Charleston on the job injury lawyers want to highlight an initiative being promoted by a Summerville couple who lost their son in an industrial machine accident on the North Charleston waterfront. They are working to gain a following for a local observance of National Workers Memorial Day, an event that is a tribute to workers killed in South Carolina. The observance took place last Thursday, April 28, and is 20-year-old recognition that has, unfortunately, gained little traction in South Carolina, but this Summerville couple is working to change the states feelings toward fatal on the job injuries.

The couple doesn’t consider themselves activists; rather as parents who don’t want other families to suffer same pain they have, losing a son or daughter in a place where they are supposed to be safe, the workplace. In December of 2005 the Summerville mother drove to Detyens Shipyard to pick up her son, a 2005 graduate of Summerville High School who had followed in his father’s footsteps, working part-time as a maritime pipe fitter.

Upon reaching the shipyard, she was met with by the flashing lights of emergency vehicles, and to find out her son died after an accidental release of waste into the holding tank of the military supply ship her son was working. The ship was being refitted in a dry dock at Detyens. While some of her son’s coworkers were able to escape the holding tank, he was overcome by hydrogen sulfide, a toxic colorless gas produced by raw sewage.

Continue reading "Years After Son Killed in Industrial Accident Summerville Couple Works to Bring Attention to On the Job Fatalities" »

A man working on a vessel owned by the Ensco Offshore Co. has filed a lawsuit against the company after being injured on the job. Allegedly, a pallet that was being lifted fell on him while aboard the Ensco 82. The man, a Mississippi resident, suffered head and spinal injuries.

The original petition claims the Ensco Offshore Co. were negligent in the accident and that the vessel was not seaworthy at the time of the incident. In addition to the physical injuries incurred by the plaintiff there is a claim he has experienced mental anguish and a loss of wages. In total, the lawsuit seeks to claim $75,000 in damages.

The lawsuit was filed on the first of December 2010 in the Galveston Division of the Southern District of Texas. The alleged injury took place back in May 2010.

This incident is particularly relevant to Charleston job injury lawyers because the port of Charleston is large economic force in the area, employing many people. But, while it provides job opportunities, work as a seaman, longshoreman, and harbor work in general is dangerous and often leads to serious injuries and even death.

Continue reading "Injured Seaman Sues and Sparks Discussion " »