The Boston Herald
By Sonia Turek
A 60-year old Somerville man whose right arm was mangled aboard a fishing trawler two years ago will get at least $800,000 from the ship owner in an out-of-court settlement.
The settlemet – a flat $400,000 and $23,000 a year for life – is “exceptional” because seaman Jose Ciumbra would have had few working years left even if he had not been injured, his attorney said yesterday.
Ciumbra, of 8 School St., caught his arm between a rope and winch head on the Old Colony fishing vessel on December 10, 1981, when he slipped on hydraulic fluid on the deck.
Bones and muscles from Ciumbra’s wrist to his upper arm were crushed, attorney Joseph M. Orlando said, leaving the fisherman with “minimum use” of his arm.
He has not been able to work since the accident, Orlando said.
