Offshore Platform Owner Wins Summary Judgment Against Services Contractor’s Injured Employee

An owner and operator of an offshore platform hired a services contractor to diagnose and repair a malfunctioning vertical caisson pump used to pump seawater up to the platform.  The services contractor’s employee was injured in performing the work and brought suit against the operator.  Last week, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana granted summary judgment to the operator.  The court concluded that the operator did not retain “operational control” over the services contractor’s work given the Master Services Agreement between the operator and the services contractor that provided that the operator would not “conduct, control, supervise, or direct the manner or method” in which the services contractor performed the work.  The court also concluded that the injured worker failed to present enough evidence to establish disputed material facts to support the allegations that the operator should be liable for negligently hiring the lifting specialists (who worked for a different company) involved in the operation.  The plaintiff argued that the prepared lift plan for the pump did not include all necessary steps and that the lift supervisor failed to ensure that only the persons who signed off on the lift plan were performing the lifting.  The court found that the plaintiff’s allegations were merely conclusory and lacked sufficient evidentiary support.

The court recognized that the owners of offshore platforms owe a duty to to employees of their independent contractors to “take reasonable steps to ensure a safe working environment” and that the Master Services Agreement’s failure to mention such a duty does not allow an owner to escape this legally mandated obligation, but held that in this particular case, the plaintiff could not present enough evidence to get over the summary judgment hurdle.