[B]Date Decided[/B]: May 12th, 2010
[B]Decided By[/B]: Massachusetts District Court (federal)
[B]Court[/B]: U.S.D.C. Massachusetts
[B]Citation[/B]: Mulligan v. Maritrans Operating Co. 2010 WL 1930282 (D. Ma 2010)
[B]Background[/B]:
On February 23, 2005, Robert Mulligan sustained injuries whilefighting a fire aboard the [I]M/V Integrity.[/I]At trial, Mulligan testified that heinjured both of his shoulders in the course of fighting the fire andthat he informed Captain Grueland of his injuries. Grueland, however, only noted an injury toMulligan’s right shoulder. Mulliganpointed out the inaccuracy in the report but Grueland refused to amend thereport and told Mulligan to report his symptoms to the Emergency Room Staff,which he did.
After a lengthy period of rehab with numerousvisits with his physician an MRI was ordered on his left shoulder which thedefendants prior to approval requested Mulligan undergo an independent medicalexamination by its own doctor. Mulliganagreed to the independent examination. Correspondence between the two sides ceased and the current litigationbegan at which point Mulligan filed an emergency motion for the defendant topay his maintenance and cure.
AnMRI was eventually done on Mulligan revealing a tear in his left rotatorcuff. Another independent medicalexamination was requested and the ultimate findings of this examination werethat Mulligan most likely did injure his left shoulder as a result of hisactions fighting the fire on defendants vessel. At this point, Mulligan’s doctor believed invasive procedures wererequired to repair his shoulder. The defendantsdelayed the procedure until after the deposition of two witnesses to determinethe validity of Mulligan’s claims. Afterthe deposition, the shoulder surgery was scheduled. Read More…