FRANKLIN, La. — The family of Ernest J. Williams, Jr., a crewmember whose body was recovered earlier this month after the Seacor Power capsized in the Gulf of Mexico, has filed a lawsuit Tuesday in St. Mary Parish against Seacor Marine, Talos Energy and Semco LLC.
The lawsuit was filed by Williams' daughter, Brandy Williams Norris, on behalf of his family and seeks damages with a request for a trial by jury.
The lawsuit states that Seacor and Talos knew or should have known of the deteriorating weather conditions on April 13 as the Seacor Power left Port Fourchon that afternoon even after warnings from the National Weather Service.
The lawsuit, which is brought under the Jones Act, claims that Williams' death was in part caused by the legal fault, negligence, carelessness and omission of Seacor, Talos and Semco LLC, which built the liftboat that capsized.
The lawsuit seeks damages from the companies including those from all losses of Williams' death, past and future wages, loss of benefits, loss of pension, funeral costs and court costs.
Attorney Glenn Lieberman filed the lawsuit on behalf of the Morris Bart Law Firm, which is representing the Williams family in the lawsuit.
"We're going to be very aggressive with it, that's why we filed this lawsuit right away," said Bart in an interview with KATC. "It's our intention to get in there, and as we all know evidence has a way of disappearing, witnesses have a way of disappearing or forgetting certain things, documents have a way of disappearing. So the reason for us to file this lawsuit right away is so we can seize control and we can make sure documents don't get destroyed, evidence doesn't get destroyed, and we can push forward and do the things that we as lawyers do."
Williams, 69, of Arnaudville, was the second body recovered in the water near Cocodrie during rescue operations on Thursday April 15, 2021.
The U.S. Coast Guard was on scene of the capsized lift boat Seacor Power after it capsized eight miles off the coast of Port Fourchon in Lafourche Parish on April 13, 2021.
Of the 19 crew members who were on board the commercial boat when it capsized, six have been rescued, six have been confirmed dead and seven remain missing as of Monday, April 19.
Here's what we know about the Seacor Power crew.
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