Jacksonville Maritime Admiralty Attorneys
Featured Settlements and Verdicts
At Farah and Farah, we represent clients in matters involving everything from medical malpractice to nursing home abuse and auto accidents. We are extremely proud that we have been able to help so many victims and families recover the compensation they need to start rebuilding their lives. The settlements and verdicts below represent just a sampling of the cases we have successfully settled or brought to trial for our clients. If you would like to speak with an attorney about your case, don't delay - contact Farah and Farah today.
Verdicts and Settlements:
Barge Accident - Recovery $3.3 million
On April 14, 2006, a federal appeals court--the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta, upheld a lower court verdict, finding Superior Construction Company was responsible for a boating accident in December 2001 that injured 12 passengers. The court affirmed a $19.2 million verdict, including $3.3 million for Jimmy White, a client of Farah & Farah.
In this precedent setting Maritime Admiralty case, the court affirmed that Superior was to blame for inadequately lighting a 128-foot barge tied under the Blanding Boulevard Bridge. A 25 foot pleasure boat collided with the barge throwing the passengers off the boat including White, who has permanent neck and back injuries.
"This is the first time there has been a clear understanding that alcohol as a factor involved in a maritime event can be held to be a non issue when the facts establish that the collision was otherwise unavoidable," says Brian Flaherty who represented White for Farah and Farah.
On December 29, 2001, Superior was the general contractor for the Florida Department of Transportation, working to widen the Blanding Boulevard Bridge. Under the bridge Superior tied a barge--a 128-foot long, 38 foot wide Mobrow 605. The barge had no fixed navigational or mooring lights. Superior devised its own lighting system- ten lights on the barge and two lights on a nearby tug´s stern.
On the night of the collision, only three of the ten lights on the barge and one of the two tug lights worked. According to Flaherty, "The working lights looked like a bathroom night light while the tugs one light was a flashing white light. The four lights total were old, scratched, sun damaged, rust stained, dirty and in poor condition. The barge was impossible to see until you were on top of it."
On the night of the collision, Superior tied the barge to the base of the bridge so it ran parallel to the bridge and blocked all but 38 feet of the 120 foot wide channel-that is two of the three spans commonly used by recreational boaters. It then tied the tug perpendicular to the barges mid-ship into a "T" shape. It was left that way for a holiday weekend.
"It was virtually invisible to see with its black color on the barge, inadequate lighting, and unorthodox location by boaters on the Cedar River," says Flaherty.
Superior had argued that some had been drinking among the group on the passenger group, including the boat's pilot. But Flaherty successfully argued that the barge's location and lack of adequate lighting made it impossible to see by any of the passengers onboard, including the one's not drinking.
White was sitting on the boat's bow and when the barge became visible he barely had enough time to shout when he was thrown into the water. His body then struck the barge.
Attorney Eddie Farah, says Superior, which has never admitted fault, offered to settle the case for a "miniscule" amount less that 1 percent of the final judgment.
"They just didn't take any of the injuries seriously" Farah says. "They really put profits over safety."