Settergren
A barge company argues that an employee’s concealed pre-existing condition is to blame when he allegedly slipped on ice, fell into the Mississippi River during a snowstorm and became trapped under the barge by the current.
Defendant SCF Lewis and Clark Fleeting LLC answered the complaint on April 29 through attorney Neal Settergren of Goldstein and Price LLC in St. Louis.
The defendant admits that it employed plaintiff Herbert Hardimon as a barge cleaner but denies that it assigned him to work as a member of the crew of a flat deck crane barge.
In its affirmative defenses, SCF Lewis and Clark argues that Hardimon does not meet the qualifications for a seaman under the Jones Act and general maritime law.
Dripps
EDWARDSVILLE A former transport vessel engineer who suffered injuries claims the boat was allowed to be in service even with a negligent captain and the vessel s known unseaworthiness.
Michael Myers filed a complaint April 26 in the Madison County Circuit Court against Magnolia Marine Transport Company and Phillips 66 Company, alleging negligence, breach of warranty of seaworthiness and breach of duty to provide cure.
Myers was the chief engineer and a crew member of the defendant s M/V Magnolia, according to his complaint. He alleges that in April 2018, he told the vessel s captain and the defendants that the vessel s backup generator, fuel pump and multiple fuel injectors were inoperative. Myers claims that despite his warnings, the defendants kept the vessel in operation. Then on May 3, 2018, the deck plate came out from under him and caused him to fall while he was trying to repair the generator before the boat docked at Phillips 66. H
Pixabay
EAST ST. LOUIS A class of patients and their families claim a helicopter ambulance transport company uses predatory billing practices, charging some patients up to $153 per mile for medical transport services.
Teresa Belyeu, Gary Budnick, Keith Cotton, Bridgette Diaz, Amanda Dyke and others filed a complaint April 27 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois against Air Evac EMS Inc., doing business as Evac Lifeteam, alleging breach of implied-in-fact contract and predatory billing practices.
According to the complaint, the plaintiffs were all patients or those who had loved ones that were transported under medical circumstances using Evac Lifeteam services. Specifically, the plaintiffs allege that there was no express contract for payment for the medical transportation prices. They also allege Evac Lifeteam did not disclose the amounts they intend to charge for the transportation, with one plaintiff being billed