Actually, I am not certain how “Injury” is defined within the law, but it’s highly likely that Injury might include emotional distress etc. Injuries aren’t always scrapes and scratches. I’m sure this guy and his mates suffered plenty of emotional distress, causing him to not not want to return to the only work he has ever known, therefore causing loss of future earnings. Again, if there is evidence that management did not follow through with recommendations over a period of time, he has a case. Cut the guy some slack for goodness sake. If it turns out to be frivolous, it’ll be thrown out real quick anyway. You shouldn’t judge a guy you don’t even know just because he is filing a lawsuit. You have no idea what he may or may not have suffered.
This girly man and his 20 some crew members should be ashamed they allowed a handfull of toothless, poorly armed, young punks to takeover the ship in the first place. They should have met them coming over the rail with baseball bats. Nobody forced this guy to be onboard for all those years and he knew the risks. Finally, he’s hitting retirement age the work is probably too tough for him. He hired a scheister attorney to take this pathetic excuse for a case to make a quick buck for retirement. Let’s hope he gets nothing.
Sorry SailEr, didn’t mean to scratch a hairy nerve.
Naturally, I wouldn’t support a pirate suit………I’m too skinny!
Seriously, there is negligence if the allegations are true. Allegations being the request for various safety items including counter-boarding technologies.
If it’s verifiable that the requests were made and either denied or left on the back burner, Maersk will either sink at trial or swim through settlement.
Imagine a cop not being handed a BPV with the explanation that it doesn’t protect against a head shot or a high powered rifle round.
There is no middle ground here for your argument; it has no bearing whatsoever as it is not up to you or I or a court of law to determine the safety measures available for use under the law are adequate in the face of the risks.
The only bearing here is whether or not there are enhanced safety meaures available and if requests for those measures weren’t heeded.
Don’t really care if you like it or not. The reality here is that Maersk had better hope for a quick settlement with a successful gag order attached.
After that, regardless of efficacy, they need to embrace whatever available countermeasures exist on a go foward basis.
Unless you stay in international waters and never enter the boundries of any country… I guess you could be armed to the gills – Of course, then there’s that whole mutiny on the Bounty thinger you have to contend with if the natives get restless… (1935…Fletcher Christian…but that’s another story)
What country is going to allow any ‘ole vessel enter it’s waters with enough fire power to take out another ship? If I’m not mistaken… aside from a sanctioned military vessel, who I’m sure has to have permission to use the ports (the Cole comes to mind…)you’d be hard pressed to complete the paperwork in this century…
Piracy on the high seas isn’t new – and I don’t mean a couple hundred years ago… I’m talking about already 16 reports in 2009 alone – Check out this website to put things into perspective:
Unless the shipping companies have armed escorts the idea that this is going to get better by suing your employer (by the way…Mr Hicks… dont try to get another job any time soon)
It’s a global issue – not just one company in the US…
Crews need to start shooting these pirates out of the water and maybe they’d think twice about their career path. Who would know it ever happened anyway? “Dead men tell no tales.” There’s entirely too much PC being given to these pieces of human garbage. They forfeit any rights they might have when they attempt to illegally board a ship in international waters and steal it. Personlly, I’d recommend a flame thrower. In the alterantive, a nice .50 calibre machine gun would eliminate the threat long before it reached the ship.
I think that there was a similar issue in America’s history. You’ve heard it before. “Millions for Defense but not one cent for tribute”. I agree with arming and training the crew, using preventive measures like barbed wire and I’ll add a “no enter zone” to the list. While in international waters. No unauthorized vessel should be allowed to approach within 300 yards of our merchant ships.
The problem is you can have all the laws you want but these idiots could care less. The ONLY way to get a point across is to speak to them in the only language they understand: VIOLENT DEFENSE.
Nobody is going to enforce anything without the usual bullcrap about investigations and witnesses. There aren’t any 300 miles out to sea. These punks perceive no negative consequence to their actions. To the contrary, the talking heads in the suits have reinforced their behavior by kissed their sorry a sses and paying a ransom. Instead, an international Delta Force should enter the port where the ships are being held, “eliminate” the pirates who are holding them, and release the ships. Then, for good measure, they wait for the other pirate heroes to come home and you eliminate them too. Problem solved.
Hey, if we’re going to open it up and tell the world our ships WILL be arriving fully armed, I’m absolutely all for it!
Heck, I’d arm every ship with a couple of SeaWhiz and a truckload of grenade launchers. Believe me, my home is the last one you’d ever want to try to burglarize (don’t worry, I live in a state with a tried and tested Castle Doctrine FIRMLY in place).
On the othere side, people here have scoffed at the water cannons but I have to reiterate they are quite effective.
Either remote controlled or fully automated, all you need to do is fortify a place for the crew to congregate and you don’t have to worry about anybody taking a bullet and those 105lbs pirates from Somolia can get re-introduced to the sea at better than 30 miles per hour from roughly 100′ up in the air.
I honestly don’t see a problem with that. Just look at the airlines with the fortified cabins.
Those boats are pretty darned big but the crews are tiny to say the least. It would be nothing to fortify the wheelhouse, set up the automated cannons with some barbed wire thrown in just for fun and let the pirates enjoy some quality time until the navy arrive.
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Actually, I am not certain how “Injury” is defined within the law, but it’s highly likely that Injury might include emotional distress etc. Injuries aren’t always scrapes and scratches. I’m sure this guy and his mates suffered plenty of emotional distress, causing him to not not want to return to the only work he has ever known, therefore causing loss of future earnings. Again, if there is evidence that management did not follow through with recommendations over a period of time, he has a case. Cut the guy some slack for goodness sake. If it turns out to be frivolous, it’ll be thrown out real quick anyway. You shouldn’t judge a guy you don’t even know just because he is filing a lawsuit. You have no idea what he may or may not have suffered.
Hey, I kicked some pretty good butt as the ship’s cook. Don’t these people ever go to the movies???
This girly man and his 20 some crew members should be ashamed they allowed a handfull of toothless, poorly armed, young punks to takeover the ship in the first place. They should have met them coming over the rail with baseball bats. Nobody forced this guy to be onboard for all those years and he knew the risks. Finally, he’s hitting retirement age the work is probably too tough for him. He hired a scheister attorney to take this pathetic excuse for a case to make a quick buck for retirement. Let’s hope he gets nothing.
Sorry SailEr, didn’t mean to scratch a hairy nerve.
Naturally, I wouldn’t support a pirate suit………I’m too skinny!
Seriously, there is negligence if the allegations are true. Allegations being the request for various safety items including counter-boarding technologies.
If it’s verifiable that the requests were made and either denied or left on the back burner, Maersk will either sink at trial or swim through settlement.
Imagine a cop not being handed a BPV with the explanation that it doesn’t protect against a head shot or a high powered rifle round.
There is no middle ground here for your argument; it has no bearing whatsoever as it is not up to you or I or a court of law to determine the safety measures available for use under the law are adequate in the face of the risks.
The only bearing here is whether or not there are enhanced safety meaures available and if requests for those measures weren’t heeded.
Don’t really care if you like it or not. The reality here is that Maersk had better hope for a quick settlement with a successful gag order attached.
After that, regardless of efficacy, they need to embrace whatever available countermeasures exist on a go foward basis.
I’m sorry… Maybe I’m just a country bumpkin…
Unless you stay in international waters and never enter the boundries of any country… I guess you could be armed to the gills – Of course, then there’s that whole mutiny on the Bounty thinger you have to contend with if the natives get restless… (1935…Fletcher Christian…but that’s another story)
What country is going to allow any ‘ole vessel enter it’s waters with enough fire power to take out another ship? If I’m not mistaken… aside from a sanctioned military vessel, who I’m sure has to have permission to use the ports (the Cole comes to mind…)you’d be hard pressed to complete the paperwork in this century…
Piracy on the high seas isn’t new – and I don’t mean a couple hundred years ago… I’m talking about already 16 reports in 2009 alone – Check out this website to put things into perspective:
http://www.icc-ccs.org/index.php?option=com_fabrik&view=visualization&controller=visualization.googlemap&Itemid=89
Unless the shipping companies have armed escorts the idea that this is going to get better by suing your employer (by the way…Mr Hicks… dont try to get another job any time soon)
It’s a global issue – not just one company in the US…
‘Nuf said…I’m gonna go count my booty…
Crews need to start shooting these pirates out of the water and maybe they’d think twice about their career path. Who would know it ever happened anyway? “Dead men tell no tales.” There’s entirely too much PC being given to these pieces of human garbage. They forfeit any rights they might have when they attempt to illegally board a ship in international waters and steal it. Personlly, I’d recommend a flame thrower. In the alterantive, a nice .50 calibre machine gun would eliminate the threat long before it reached the ship.
I think that there was a similar issue in America’s history. You’ve heard it before. “Millions for Defense but not one cent for tribute”. I agree with arming and training the crew, using preventive measures like barbed wire and I’ll add a “no enter zone” to the list. While in international waters. No unauthorized vessel should be allowed to approach within 300 yards of our merchant ships.
The problem is you can have all the laws you want but these idiots could care less. The ONLY way to get a point across is to speak to them in the only language they understand: VIOLENT DEFENSE.
Nobody is going to enforce anything without the usual bullcrap about investigations and witnesses. There aren’t any 300 miles out to sea. These punks perceive no negative consequence to their actions. To the contrary, the talking heads in the suits have reinforced their behavior by kissed their sorry a sses and paying a ransom. Instead, an international Delta Force should enter the port where the ships are being held, “eliminate” the pirates who are holding them, and release the ships. Then, for good measure, they wait for the other pirate heroes to come home and you eliminate them too. Problem solved.
Must agree w/Dread…..this guy is an old scumbag looking for retirement money.
Hey, if we’re going to open it up and tell the world our ships WILL be arriving fully armed, I’m absolutely all for it!
Heck, I’d arm every ship with a couple of SeaWhiz and a truckload of grenade launchers. Believe me, my home is the last one you’d ever want to try to burglarize (don’t worry, I live in a state with a tried and tested Castle Doctrine FIRMLY in place).
On the othere side, people here have scoffed at the water cannons but I have to reiterate they are quite effective.
Either remote controlled or fully automated, all you need to do is fortify a place for the crew to congregate and you don’t have to worry about anybody taking a bullet and those 105lbs pirates from Somolia can get re-introduced to the sea at better than 30 miles per hour from roughly 100′ up in the air.
I honestly don’t see a problem with that. Just look at the airlines with the fortified cabins.
Those boats are pretty darned big but the crews are tiny to say the least. It would be nothing to fortify the wheelhouse, set up the automated cannons with some barbed wire thrown in just for fun and let the pirates enjoy some quality time until the navy arrive.