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We designed this website to provide information to consumers, injured people, and their families. Our goal is to level the playing field between consumers and insurance companies and expose the tricks, traps, and techniques they use to cheat injured people out of their legal rights. We also let consumers know about legal news, including verdicts and settlements and other interesting legal information.

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Maritime Accident News

Federal Courts Rule that Sunken Vessel was Seaworthy

A federal jury in Portland, Maine, ruled that the fishing vessel that sank on July 13, 2005, was seaworthy.

Fisherman Gary Thorbjornson, 42, of Port Clyde, died when the fishing boat he was on, The Sirius, capsized. The boat accident took place approximately 60 miles off the coast of Rockland. The boat’s crew included Thorbjornson’s son, Garrett, 17, and crewman David Wilgus, 19.

The Sirius was headed home after being loaded with approximately 10,000 pounds of groundfish when it began to take on water. “Leaky vessel’s pumps just couldn’t keep up,” a family member said.

Thorbjornson was fetching survival suits from below when the boat capsized. All three men were thrown into the sea. Garrett Thorbjornson and Wilgus survived the accident by locating a life raft and sharing one survival suit. They were eventually rescued by the Irene & Alton. 

The trial, which lasted three days, resulted in a federal jury finding for the owners and ruling that the Sirius was seaworthy.

Garrett Thorbjornson and Wilgus filed a civil suit for personal injuries under the Jones Act and the general maritime law of unseaworthiness against the F/V Sirius Inc. in the Maine District of the U.S. District Court. Tammy Thorbjornson, Thorbjornson’s widow, also filed a civil suit against the owners of the ill-fated boat.

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