A 79-year-old commercial fisherman went to work on a fishing vessel like he had nearly every day of his working life. He never got the chance to tell anyone what happened next.
In the early morning hours of January 31, 2023, as the crew prepared to set out the nets, something went wrong at the stern ramp door. There was a bang. Then the crew found him lying on the deck, unconscious, bleeding from the left side of his head. No one saw it happen. Because of the traumatic brain injury he suffered, he never would be able to say what did.
That silence should have made this case nearly impossible to win. Instead, after three years of litigation, Latti Associates secured a settlement of $4,447,402.06 the full remaining policy limits for our client and his family. And we never lowered our demand from policy limits, not once, in three years.
Here’s what this case shows about how we work, and why it matters to anyone hurt on the water.
A Catastrophic Injury Caused by Equipment the Vessel Knew Was Unsafe
To set the fishing nets, the vessel’s roughly 500-pound stern ramp door had to be raised using the net reel which is a large, motorized spool. A rope tied to the door was connected to the reel with a cut shackle, hooked into a hole on the reel’s flange. When the operator engaged the drum, the rope pulled and the door swung up.
After our client was struck, investigators examined the shackle. It had bent nearly straight which was evidence that it had come out from the flange and struck him in the head. Deposition testimony later confirmed that the vessel’s owner already knew this type of shackle had failed before, that it would lose its shape over time and needed to be replaced, and that a safer method to raise the door existed. It wasn’t used.
Our client suffered an open skull fracture with cerebral contusion requiring a left craniotomy, multiple facial fractures, and hemorrhagic contusions to both frontal parietal lobes. The result was aphasia, severely limited mobility, and dependence on his family for the basic activities of daily living he had managed on his own his entire life.
The Defense Tried to Blame the Victim. The Court Didn’t Buy It.
With no eyewitness to the injury itself and a client who could no longer testify to what happened, the defense argued that our client bore responsibility in that if he had worn a helmet on deck as the captain had ordered, he would not have been hurt.
We challenged that theory head-on. The defense’s sole expert on the helmet issue was struck by the Court before trial ever started. The defense also moved to strike our client’s life care plan which projected $3.1 million in future costs under Federal Rules of Evidence 702 and 703. That motion was denied. Every attempt to shrink this case, or shift blame onto a man who could no longer speak for himself, was met and defeated.
Three Years. One Number. No Compromise.
The vessel carried a $5,000,000 eroding insurance policy which meant defense costs and expenses reduce the amount available to pay a claim the longer a case drags on. Insurers often count on that erosion, and on plaintiffs growing anxious, to negotiate a case down over time.
It didn’t work here. Throughout three years of litigation, we never lowered the demand from policy limits. We built the case to withstand that pressure by presenting a past and future lost wage claim of $400,000 (he was earning roughly $114,000 a year at the time of his injury) and a life care plan projecting $3.1 million in future needs, and defeating the defense’s attempts to challenge both and strike the testimony. The case ultimately settled for the remaining policy limits, just weeks before trial.
We also filed a separate Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 93A action against the insurers themselves, alleging failure to reasonably investigate and failure to settle the claim in good faith. That case is continuing to move forward.
Why This Case Matters if You or a Loved One Was Hurt at Sea
Maritime injury cases are unlike ordinary personal injury claims. They involve unseaworthiness, vessel owner negligence, complex insurance structures, and as this case shows defense strategies designed to exploit exactly the kind of silence a serious injury creates. When your client can’t testify, and no one else witnessed the moment of injury, the outcome depends entirely on how thoroughly the physical evidence, the equipment history, and the vessel owner’s own knowledge are investigated and proven.
It also depends on whether your attorney is willing to hold the line. Insurers are patient. They expect fatigue, financial pressure, and time to work in their favor. This result happened because our client’s resolve backed by our investigation, our experts, and our refusal to negotiate against ourselves never wavered, for three years, until the case was resolved on our terms.
Injured on a Boat or Fishing Vessel? We Should Talk.
If you or someone you love was seriously hurt, or lost their life, in a boating or maritime work accident, the evidence that proves what happened is disappearing right now. Equipment gets repaired. Memories fade. Insurers move quickly to shape the narrative in their favor.
Latti Associates focuses exclusively on maritime injury and death cases. We know how to investigate a vessel, depose a crew, challenge a defense expert, and build a claim that can survive years of litigation without losing value or resolve. Don’t assume the insurance company has the final word.