A commercial diver has filed a Jones Act lawsuit for a back injury that was sustained while he was moving underwater jacks.
On September 7, Robert Forrest filed suit against his employer, Global Industries Offshore, in federal court in New Orleans.
The injury occurred in January of 2008. At that time, Forrest was working as a seaman and commercial diver for the vessel Titan 2. In the lawsuit, Forrest claims that he severely injured his neck while attempting to move underwater jacks at the direction of his employer.
Global Industries Offshore is accused of negligence for failure to plan the dive, assess and reduce the inherent risk of the dive, for failure to properly man, equip, maintain and operate the Titan 2, for failure to provide Forrest with a safe and non-hazardous workplace, for failure to provide proper and sufficient tools to complete the tasks, for failure to establish safe diving protocol for the complexities of the dive, and for failure to establish and implement a Job Safety Analysis to identify and address the inherent hazards associated with the dive.
Forrest is requesting damages for his emotional trauma and distress, loss of future life pleasures, disfigurement and impairment, loss of wages, loss of earning capacity, injury-related medical expenses and court costs.
