THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, October 27, 1994 TAG: 9410270464
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JACK DORSEY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 72 lines
A Bahraini shipyard has agreed to pay $600,000 to the families of nine of 10 Norfolk-based sailors killed four years ago in a boiler room accident aboard the assault ship Iwo Jima.
``It will not make anyone very comfortable,'' said attorney Stephen K. Carr of New York. ``But it at least is giving them some solace. I think it is going to help close the door to all of this.''
Jeffrey A. Breit, a Norfolk attorney who also has represented some of the families, called the settlement a major accomplishment.
``Considering that shipyard was a government-owned company in a foreign land, this was the best we could do,'' Breit said.
In February, Carr won a $6.1 million judgment from a New Jersey federal court against the Bahrain Ship Repair and Engineering Co., but none of the money could be recovered. Awards of $331,000 to $1.3 million were to go to each of the nine families; relatives of one crew member chose not to enter the litigation.
``We couldn't find any assets of the BSRAEC shipyard in the U.S. and we had no way of enforcing that default judgment over in Bahrain,'' Carr said.
Carr also had filed suit in Bahraini courts on behalf of the families, seeking $200,000 each.
The families were expecting a judgment in that case next month when the shipyard decided to settle out of court. Initially, the yard offered $370,000.
``We were able to negotiate that up in stages to $600,000,'' Carr said. ``The value of wrongful death judgments in Bahrain, as far as we are able to make out, is that they kind of top out at around $70,000. Even if we had gone to a judgment, we would not have expected to have done as well as we have.''
The $600,000 is to be divided among the families based on a formula designed by the New Jersey federal judge. The families of those victims who did not die instantaneously received more money, as did those families where the victims left dependents.
In an effort to pressure the shipyard, Congress last year enacted legislation prohibiting the Defense Department from entering into any contract with the shipyard until it initiated proceedings to compensate the families.
The legislation, sponsored by Rep. Owen B. Pickett, a Democrat who represents parts of Norfolk and Virginia Beach, provides exceptions in the event emergency work is required or if national security is involved.
Breit said Pickett's legislation helped force the shipyard into a settlement.
``He deserves a lot of credit. Otherwise, we'd still be over there arguing,'' said Breit.
The Navy appears to have avoided the shipyard since then. Only one contract, for less than $100,000, has been awarded to the shipyard since the prohibition, according to Carr.
He suggested that with more U.S. ships in the Persian Gulf now because of the latest Iraqi crisis, ``it may have had something to do to stimulate this resolution.''
The shipyard was held liable for the explosion after a Navy investigation disclosed that the Oct. 30, 1990, accident resulted from improper repairs made to a main valve in one of the ship's boilers.
A shipyard employee mistakenly used the ship's supply of brass nuts, bolts and studs to fasten a valve bonnet to the valve, the Navy report said. The brass, softer than the stainless steel that should have been used, failed when the boiler reached high temperatures. That allowed the release of steam, which led to the sailors' death.
KEYWORDS: LAWSUITS SETTLEMENT ACCIDENT GENERAL
ACCIDENT MILITARY FATALITIES by CNB