Trial Magazine

Mulivai Mulivai, 36, worked as a seaman aboard the fishing vessel T/V Cape Horn. While he was stacking boxes of fish in the ship’s freezer hold, the ship began to pitch and roll. Mulivai, who was holding a box of frozen fish, was struck by cases of fish that fell onto his back and neck. He fell, and the box he was carrying hit his chest. He suffered disk extrusions at L4-5 and L5-S1, a chest contusion, and other injuries.

Mulivai required surgery and can no longer work in the fishing industry. He had earned approximately $142 per day and has not returned to work.

Mulivai sued Iquique US LLC, the owner and operator of the T/V Cape Horn, alleging negligence under the Jones Act. The plaintiff claimed that the defendant failed to oversee and properly instruct its workers on the stacking of the frozen fish boxes. Suit also alleged that the defendant failed to secure the boxes and that the freezer hold was an unsafe place to work. The defense argued that Mulivai failed to mitigate his wage loss by taking a job as a security professional.

The jury awarded approximately $564,700, finding that the plaintiff had failed to mitigate his past economic damages by $22,000. The jury also found the plaintiff 20 percent liable.

Citation: Mulivai v. Iquique US LLC, No. 17-2-01950-0 KNT (Wash. Super. Ct. King Cnty. May 18, 2018).

Plaintiff counsel: AAJ member Zachary B. Herschensohn, Seattle.

Plaintiff expert: Neil Bennett, vocational rehabilitation, Bothell, Wash.

Defense expert: Jennifer Kabacy, vocational rehabilitation, Federal Way, Wash.