The New York Times
Monday, December 10, 1984
By Dudley Clendinen
Attorney for the Injured
In the Gloucester harbor, north of here, where fishermen have brought their catch to dock for more than 350 years, the curved hulls and rigging of the fishing trawlers make a pretty sight. But some of the oldest boats, and some of the newest, are not at dock, nor will they be seen again. Thirty-seven trawlers, almost a quarter of the Gloucester fleet, have sunk in the last four years, and most lie in deep waters off the coast, in silent monument to a troubled trade. Across the continent, dozens of boats used to fish for Alaskan king crabs have gone down in the Bering Sea.
Injury claims against Gloucester boat owners are represented by Joe Orlando, a lawyer in Gloucester. Mr. Orlando, 31-years-old, is a son, nephew and grandson of fishermen, and he has become the most prominent in New England of a growing number of lawyers around the country who specialize in filing personal injury claims for fishermen. The lawyers energy and impact on the industry have become the talk of the fleet. “In Brownsville, Tex. From the numbers I’ve heard, approximately a year ago, there were only two plaintiff’s lawyers,” said Kristin Vehrs, Washington representative for the Texas Shrimp Association. “And now, there are 12 or 13.”
Jim Kostakes, a fish processor in New Bedford, the leading port in the nation in terms of the value of the fish brought in each year, more than $100 million, also noted the trend. “I know an attorney that drives down from Gloucester every morning and he’s at the docks by 6:30,” Mr. Kostakes said. “Every morning.” Mr. Kostakes is president of the National Vessel Safety and Insurance Commission, a trade group.
“Profiteering” Is Alleged
Representative Breaux speaks of “allegations that personal injury lawyers are profiteering.”
Mr. Ferlando of the American Tunaboat Association said that in five years, annual insurance premiums to cover crews in the California tuna fleet went to $8,500 or $10,000 a man from $1,500.
“I think the problem is recognized as one that has reached crisis proportions all around the country,” Mr. Ferlando said. Speaking of the lawyers, he said, it’s just the fact of easy money, and you got people out there soliciting.’
Mr. Orlando, the Gloucester attorney, says he does not want to go out and solicit cases. “We don’t need to,” he says, but he defends the practice, and the fisherman’s need for legal advice, from a personal perspective.
“I lost two uncles at sea,” said Mr. Orlando. “In both cases, the vessels were covered by insurance, but the families received only enough to cover burial expenses.”
“Fishermen, just like insurance companies, have the right to be represented,” he said. “If I’m in some huge New York law firm, I can walk into the board room of General Motors and solicit their business.
“However, in personal injury law, if a man is disabled, and maybe doesn’t speak English very well, and doesn’t know what his basic rights are, and someone comes up and says, ‘I can help you,’ then that’s ambulance-chasing.”
Law Protects Fishermen
“The only reason I’m in business is because the insurance companies fail to deal fairly with people,” Mr. Orlando said. The rights of fishermen are protected by the Jones Act, passed by Congress some years ago to make boat owners responsible for the safety of their crews. This past February, Mr. Orlando represented Mercurio DiMercurio, skipper of a trawler.
Mr. DiMercurio’s arm had been badly broken by a steel block falling from the rigging of his boat, owned by a corporation in which he was the majority stockholder. Although he was, in effect, suing himself for negligence, a Federal jury in Boston awarded him more than $700,000, including interest.
News of that verdict reverberated through the industry, and Mr. Orlando says he has not had to go to trial since. The insurance companies, he said, have settled every claim.
