Improper venue, expired statute of limitations sink winch injury Jones claim

Time has run out for Brendan Reichert’s Jones Act claim.

While working aboard a towing vessel in the Ohio River, Reichart suffered undisclosed injuries from a faulty locking mechanism on a winch.

He filed the lawsuit in Ohio because the vessel owner, Mon River Towing Inc., conducted business there.

Reichert should have taken the series of bungled events at the start of his legal process as a bad omen. First, his complaint did not reach the company because it was not  “deliverable as addressed.”

Then, the complaint had to be amended to correct a typographical error.

Later, the Ohio Court ruled it did not have jurisdiction because the injury occurred 50 miles upriver in Pennsylvania.

By the time Reichart moved his case to a Pennsylvania Federal Court, the three year statute of limitations had expired and Mon River’s motion to dismiss was granted.