ST. LOUIS - A dredging and contracting company is asking the court to protect it from being held liable for an accident that killed an employee on one of the company's barges earlier this month.
According to documents filed in St. Louis federal court on March 17, decedent John Castloo was an employee of plaintiff Gateway Dredging and Contracting LLC working aboard the BVI barge on the Missouri River.
On March 12, Castloo suffered a fatal injury on the BVI. The details of what occurred were not described in the court papers, except that the employee's death "was neither caused nor contributed to be caused by any fault, error, omission, negligence, unseaworthiness, or other fault of Gateway or the BVI."
The plaintiff says that a lawsuit arising out of the accident could ask for damages that exceed the barge's value, and requests the court exonerate Gateway from liability citing the limitation of a vessel owner's liability per U.S. Code. Additionally, the plaintiff asks that if Gateway must be held to any liability, that it doesn't exceed the barge's value.
No lawsuit has yet been filed on the decedent's behalf.
Gateway is represented by Goldstein and Price LC of St. Louis.