Parents awarded over $500,000 in trawler wrongful death case

A Washington State court recently ruled in favor the parents of a crewmember who died aboard a factory trawler. Vin Pham, who was 28, was killed in an accident aboard the F/T Enterprise in 2007. Because he was living with his parents and provided them services and support at the time of his death, the court awarded his parents $522,362 as compensation for the loss of his support for the next 29 years; the eldest son lives with the parents until their death under Vietnamese cultural traditions.  The defendant in this wrongful death case was O’Hara Corporation. The plaintiffs were not able to recover for loss of affection or termination of the parent-child relationship under the Death of the High Seas Act.

Source: Jones Act Law Blog