Gloucester Daily Times
Wednesday, October 17,1984
By Kevin Sullivan
Insurance companies say “ambulance-chase” lawyers whisk injured fishermen off the docks before insurers even know they’re hurt.
Fishermen say insurance companies are too greedy to pay legitimate claims, forcing them to hire lawyers.
Those were the basic arguments made yesterday when about 20 fishermen, insurance industry officials, lawyers and bankers bemoaned the nation’s marine insurance problems, in front of two congressmen and 120 spectators crushed into a tiny, hot hotel function room in Boston.
The three-hour hearing at the Lenox Hotel – attended by more than 25 Gloucester people, including 18 fishermen who came by bus – was held by U.S. representatives Gerry Studds of New Bedford and John Breaux of Louisiana, acting as subcommittee of the U.S. House Merchant Marine and Fisheries Committee.
Debate yesterday touched on the nations high rate of boat sinkings. Breaux, the committee chairman, asked almost every speaker if mandatory annual vessel inspection – currently not required – would reduce losses.
Most said inspections would help, but would not solve the problem.
But the crux of yesterday’s debate was personal injury claims: lawyers and huge settlements, how insurance companies handle claims the cost of claims and medical care, how to prevent accidents and problems with the Jones Act, the federal law covering seamen’s rights.
“There is no longer a boat today on this earth that is not unseaworthy as far as the ambulance-chasers are concerned,” said William Hart of Mariners Insurance Agency in New Bedford, Hart claimed that lawyers help crewmen fabricate stories that they were injured because of boat owner negligence, that they slipped on grease leaking from a winch, or loose deck tile. That convinces sympathetic juries to award huge settlements, Hart said.
Sam Parisi of Parisi’s Marine, Part- owner of the dragger Gloucesterman, said he had two suits now pending against his boat. One man who lost the tip of his finger asked for an $8,500 settlement from the insurance company, which refused to pay Parisi said.
“So he runs to a lawyer and the lawyer says, ‘We can get you $100,000, no sweat,'” Parisi said.
The second crewman fell overboard for five minutes and is seeking a $550,000 settlement, Parisi said. He “is not willing to settling because he hears of fishermen who get rich quick by suing.
Joseph Orlando, a local lawyer who specializes in representing fishermen, told the congressmen to “look past” insurance officials’ allegations of “litigation gone mad.”
“It’s a very easy thing to point a finger at lawyers and say, ‘Stop them and we can stop this problem,'” Orlando said.
Orlando said insurance companies reduce sinkinga and injuries by inspecting vessels when they renewed policies. Maintenance would have to be done to bring the boats up to a standard and fishermen would have a “chance to work through the year without serious injury,” Orlando said.
Orlando responded to a suggestion made yesterday by Hart and other insurance agents that injured seamen be prevented from consulting with an attorney for a 30-60 or 90 day period. Insurance officials said that would give insurance officials time to settle a claim without interference from lawyers.
“They would be the only American citizens without the right to legal counsel,” Orlando said.
Orlando’s testimony drew catcalls from Gloucester fishermen across the room. Many people in the room laughed when Orlando said, “If you institute a reasonable inspection system, the problem, I believe, will be gone.”
Orlando said mandatory inspections would force better boat maintenance and prevent many injuries.
Skipper Sebastian “Busty” Moceri of the Andromeda, one of the skippers who attended the meeting, this morning said local skippers are “very, very angry” at Orlando.
“In the Gloucester fleet, everything is brand new,” he said, adding that blocks, wire, winches and other equipment are in “No. 1 condition.”
He said most accidents occur because of the tough nature of working on a fishing boat at sea. He said faulty equipment is not often the cause.
“The Gloucester fleet is mostly family boats,” Moceri said. “We take care of our boats better than our houses.”
Yesterday, Orlando also disputed those who said fishermen are protected by the Jones Act, a wide-ranging federal statute that covers seamen, even when they are on shore.
August Ferlando of San Diego, CA, president of the American Tuna Boat Association, was among those who favored workmen’s compensation for fishermen. That way, injuries would require specific payments be settled routinely, without the need for attorneys.
Dennis Nixon of the University of Rhode Island also favored a workmen’s compensation system. He said only one in ten cases that go through workmen’s compensation is contested by an attorney.
Because the Jones Act sets no guidelines for injury claim payments, “there is too much incentive for people to file lawsuits,” Ferlando said.
Other insurance officials said that only about 69 cents of each dollar paid out in settlements involving attorneys goes to the injured fisherman. The rest goes to the lawyers.
Orlando said compensation merely would reduce fisherman’s rights. He said they would be unable to collect for many aspects of their injuries. And. He said, insurance companies would still have to pay the claims.
He reasserted his claim that annual inspections would be more effective than changing the Jones Act.
Parisi asked the congressmen to consider amending the Jones Act to eliminate jury trials. He said judges should weigh the evidence, not listen to people who know nothing about the fishing industry.
Other Gloucester residents attending the hearing included: Mayor Richard Silva; Angela Sanfilippo, president of the Fishermen’s Wives Association; state Rep.
Patricia Flero; Anthony Verga, executive director of the Fisheries Commission; Michael Orlando, vice-president of the seafarers international union; insurance agent David Amero of Salvatore J. Favazza Insurance; state senate candidate William Squillance.
Sate Sen. Robert Buell and U.S. Rep. Nicholas Mavroules also attended. Mavroules spoke briefly. Among Gloucester fishermen on hand were: Fisheries Commission member Tom Brancaleone of the Paul and Domenic, Carlo Randazza of the Sacred Heart,
Matteo Ferrarra of the Cape Cod, Leo Vitale of the Stella Del Mare, Sebastien “Busty” Moceri of Andromeda, and Vito Ciaramitaro of the Vito C.
