A dock worker, who sustained a brain injury when hit by a defective mooring cable, has won work brain damage settlement for an injury suffered at work.
Cody Karl of League City, Texas, was working in a job at the Magellan Terminal located on the Houston Ship Channel when, on 1st June 2008, he formed part of a team tasked with docking a 600 foot tanker. Cody was working on board a docking skiff when one of the cables used to moor the ship snapped and hit him on the head.
Despite wearing a hard hat, Cody was found to have brain injuries which lead to cognitive dysfunction and a loss of physical strength along the left side of his body. After seeking legal representation, Cody took an injuries at work case against the Magellan Terminal, claiming that the mooring cable was in an unsafe condition for the tension it had to withstand.
Cody’s employers refuted the claim, saying that Cody himself should have seen that the cable had deteriorated and was not safe to use, but at the 125th Judicial District Court of Harris County, Texas, Judge Christine Butts found in favour of the claimant and awarded him £9.6m.