Offshore worker files Jones Act suit after personnel basket accident

Ensco Inc. and Stone Energy Offshore are named defendants in a Jones Act lawsuit filed by a pipeline x ray technician from an accident in the Gulf of Mexico, the Louisiana Record reports.

Darnell Deon Baloney, plaintiff, alleges that on Nov. 16, 2010, as he was being moved in a metal personnel basket suspended from a crane while he was inspecting wells, the basket hit the crane’s cables. This caused it to jerk and tilt violently and resulted in serious, permanent and progressive injuries to his lumbar spine, his lawsuit states.

Baloney was employed by Bayou Testers and working under the authority of the ENSCO 99.

He seeks compensation for physical and mental suffering, pain, mental anguish, disfigurement, scarring, humiliation and loss of earning capacity.

The defendant stands accused of negligence for failure to provide a safe working place, failure to properly operate, maintain and inspect the crane, failure to properly supervise and train the crane operator, and for providing defective and improper equipment.

The lawsuit was filed in federal court in New Orleans.