Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Judge rips Icicle, upholds $1.3 million for injury

A while back, Deckboss noted a costly jury verdict against Icicle Seafoods Inc. in connection with a worker who suffered a back injury aboard the company's processing barge, the Bering Star.

Now, a Seattle judge has ruled emphatically against Icicle's request to have a $1.3 million punitive damages award reduced or tossed out.

King County Superior Court Judge Hollis Hill was scathing in his assessment of the way Icicle handled plaintiff Dana Clausen's claim for medical benefits.

"The defendant preyed upon a man incapable of work living in a broken down old RV," the judge wrote. "The defendant did it intentionally, repeatedly, over a period of years, and the purpose of its malicious actions was corporate profit. Moreover, while doing this, the defendant was subject to a stringent legal duty to do just the opposite — to carefully care for Mr. Clausen. Thus, a large punitive damage award is fully supported by the law."

Interestingly, Icicle attempted to use the 2008 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in the Exxon Valdez oil spill case as an argument for cutting or killing the punitive damages award.

Clausen's law firm, Beard Stacey & Jacobsen, has commentaries about this case on its blog.

Deckboss, of course, would welcome and post Icicle's side of the story.

8 comments:

john..... said...

very well written and intriguing post, thanks author. i would like to say something on injury compensation, Don't wait too long with filing for your personal injury compensation claim. If you are a victim of unsafe work conditions which induced your injury or disease, there is no time to lose. The medical expenses are getting out of control rather sooner than later. Based on your kind of injury or suffering, a good lawyer can give you an idea of the settlement amount you might be eligible for.

But do your due diligence first. You need to know how much money your are trying to get compensated for. Take into account all your medical expenses, the ones that already occurred and those that are likely to occur in the future

Anonymous said...

Notorious for conspiracies way before this incident.....this is just the lemon next to the pie....there goes the pollock/cod deckhand shares....but this won't effect Bobby T.....no way....

Anonymous said...

According to Bobby T all employees are shareholders and became millionaires when the company was sold to Fox Paine -- his attitude has always been let them eat cake.

Anonymous said...

Where's the Willamette Law Review, from bobby t and associates?

What a Klassic Icicle!

"Lying in the United States District Court, with false allagations...Mr Kline's enhancement motive like Exxon's willfull and wanton conduct in pursuit of profit????
"the most egregious conduct"

Bad Faith, Malicious, intentional disregard adjustor, trickery and deciet, repedatly violated wit false statements..."

Whoops!

Vote UFA! Here a scab, there a scab, everywhere another scab!

Anonymous said...

And can we get another Norweigan Lie from Petersburg, to go along with the truth?

The Swell in the Dog-Cart

"A little bird in the air
Is singing of Thryi the fair;
The sister of Svend, the Dane;
And the song of the garrulous bird
In the streets of the town is herd,
And repeated again and again
And flee away from each other..

Anonymous said...

Where's the integrity in the protection for your employees? Safety videos are no replacement for direct supervision from superiors, especially with thoroughly trained personnel. Management discrepancies directly lead to lost profits, and should be addressed accordingly.

Anonymous said...

Couldn't find a safer company to work for

Anonymous said...

How could it be ever safe, when they don't want to properly train,certify, acknowledge, and help injured employees. This really looks like it's all about the buck, to me. Go blow smoke up some one elses exit pipe. Looks like you have the lips for it...lol. Heinous irresponsibility, on Icicles part, and they got caught!...hahaha...