Widow of sea captain agrees settlement in coronavirus negligence case

Widow of sea captain agrees settlement in coronavirus negligence case
ANTHONY MCAULEY | FEB 10, 2021 https://www.nola.com/news/business/article_e6fabd10-6bc5-11eb-a4a9-3ff33...

A lawsuit brought by the widow of a sea captain who died after contracting the coronavirus last year was settled out of court last week, ending the opportunity for the case to set a precedent about whether American maritime law extends to such hazards.

The case had been brought in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana in New Orleans under the 1920 Jones Act, which gives seamen who are not eligible for traditional federal worker's compensation some protection for the unique risks they face aboard vessels.

The lawsuit alleged that Michael Norwood, husband of plaintiff Kathy Norwood, died of COVID-19 in a Mobile, Alabama, hospital in April, 2020 after having been exposed to the coronavirus while he was working in Mobile's Austal marine facility on an offshore support vessel owned by Lafayette-based Rodi Marine LLC.

It further alleged that Michael Norwood had been negligently exposed to the virus when he was required to work on the vessel with another sea captain, John Reed, who the firm had transferred from New Orleans in late March when it was known at the time that the city had been a coronavirus "hot spot".

Norwood's attorney, Paul Sterbcow, and other legal scholars have said the case would have been an opportunity to test whether the Jones Act's requirement that owners ensure the seaworthiness of their vessels includes a duty of care to ensure none of its crew members brings aboard a deadly virus.

"Captain Norwood had remedies available to him as a member of the crew of this vessel that others who are not vessel crew members don’t have under the law," said Sterbcow, referring to the Jones Act's unseaworthiness provisions.

Crew who are American citizens or residents and work on American-registered ships are afforded special protection that those on foreign ships or in many other industries are not.

"Seamen are in a particular class of workers as are railway workers," said Arthur Crais, a maritime law professor at Loyola University. "Unlike other employees, both seamen and railway workers can sue the employer for negligence. All other employees are limited by the recovery of workers' compensation benefits."

But in the Norwood case, both parties decided to settle rather than take it to trial.

"We both thought it best for Mrs. Norwood and Rodi Marine to resolve this case," said Sterbcow, who said a confidentiality agreement forbids him from disclosing the terms of the settlement.