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A commercial fisherman has been awarded damages in trial court against a dredging company after his boat crashed into an unmarked dredge pipeline. The award to victim Timothy Courbin, a commercial crabber, was for $1.8 million.
The accident happened on March 14. Courbin and his daughter, Elizabeth Kight were checking crab traps off of Horseshoe Beach in the Gulf of Mexico for several hours before the incident. As Courbin was navigating through the beach’s main channel, he saw a large pipeline submerged two to eight inches below the surface of the water. When his boat collided with the pipeline, Courbin was thrown onto a wooden picking table. The pipeline ended up lodged between the boat’s outboard motor and the transom.
Courbin suffered a back injury in the accident, and as a result suffered from chronic pain that according to the lawsuit made it impossible for him to return to his career as a crabber. In addition, the pain and discomfort he suffered from his back injury interfered with his daily life. He was unable to get a normal night’s sleep or play with his grandchildren, for example. Courbin’s doctor recommended that he stay on a regular regimen of pain killers, and may need epidural steroid injections, IDD therapy and perhaps even surgery.
The dredging company, Subaqueous Services, appealed the award on several points, including whether or not it was appropriate for the court to admit evidence of previous accidents that happened along the same pipeline and whether there was enough evidence to give an award for lost future earning capacity, future medical expenses and noneconomic damages.
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