Longshoreman sues over back injury caused by loose mooring line

GALVESTON - Claiming a mooring line struck him in the back while he waited to board a ship, Jorge Lozano seeks damages.

Lozano filed a lawsuit against Odfjell (UK) Limited and Conti 172 Schiffarts GMBH & Co. in the Galveston Division of the Southern District of Texas on May 15.

Court papers assert that Odfjell and Conti owned the vessels which reportedly caused the incident in question on May 23, 2011.

The plaintiff was working at the Oxbow Corp. Terminal in Texas City helping move mooring lines for the tanker ship M/V POS ACHAT, which belonged to Conti, as well as placing the lines over bits on the terminal pier.

ACHAT personnel then operated controls and manipulated the mooring lines from the boat to moor the ACHAT to the pier in a manner the workers saw fit.

According to the original petition, Odfjell's M/V BOW CECIL sailed by the ACHAT's position at the terminal and caused a swell of water to slam into the ACHAT.

Several mooring lines on the ACHAT broke, and one of them flew through the air and into Lozano's back, the suit says.

The impact supposedly knocked the complainant to the ground.

An ambulance transported the plaintiff to a nearby hospital afterwards.

Lozano says pain has radiated throughout his body and specifically in his neck, back and lower extremities since the injury, adding MRI results revealed a herniated disc at the L5-S1 level.

Consequently, he seeks an unspecified monetary amount.

Attorney A. Craig Eiland of The Law Offices of A. Craig Eiland PC in Galveston is representing Lozano.

Case No. 3:13-CV-181