In a case in which we participated with another law firm, these are the summarized facts:

The plaintiff (victim) was a dock worker in the Turks and Caicos Islands in the Caribbean. He was working on a barge when he was struck by the boom of a large crane being operated by an employee of a Florida based company which owned the barge.

His right leg was severed and later amputated above the knee as a result of the negligence of the crane operator and hence the Florida company. Depositions revealed no comparative negligence on the plaintiff's part. There might have been a choice of law agrument as to whether to apply the law of the Caribbean nation or that of Florida, but there were enough ties to Florida for an appellate firm to convince defendant's firm that it would be futile to fight a battle on choice of law. In addition, a Turks and Caicos jury, if not limited in what it might award could have chosen to pay a huge sum to its native son.

The main issue was the extent of damages to award for the injury. Through the use of expert testimony in deposition from our side was able to show that the victim would, given his expected life span, be forced to use a series of prosthetic devices over a period of years, all at much higher cost then the crude prosthetic devices from the past. Even so, his quality of life would deteriorate because he could not do physical work of the type he knew and would be severely hampered in his daily life. He also contracted Type 2 diabetes, in all likelihood due to his enforced inactive life style, which disease, though manageable, further worsened his quality of life.

The case was settled for two million four hundred thousand ($2,400,000.00) dollars. It would have been more or less in a jury trial but if more would probably have resulted in an appeal that would have left the plaintiff without compensation until the appeal was decided.

We are presently involved in a cruise ship case which occurred on the Pacific coast, but is litigable in Florida because of the cruise ship company's Florida registration. This case involved a wrongful death arising from a ship's employee failing to assist an elderly passenger in re-boarding the parent vessel, which resulted in an embolism, which was the cause of death. The case is presently in suit (there is a one year statute of limitation) and a substantial demand has been made.