McKEITHEN v. S.S. FROSTA

Civ. A. Nos. 76-3251, 76-3275 and 76-3654.

426 F.Supp. 307 (1977)

Dorothy S. McKEITHEN, Individually and on behalf of her Deceased husband, Charles F. McKeithen v. The S.S. FROSTA and the M/V GEORGE PRINCE, et al. In the Matter of A/S. J. LUDWIG MOWINKELS REDERI, as owner of the M/V FROSTA, Petitioning for exoneration from or limitation of liability. In the Matter of the DEPARTMENT OF HIGHWAYS, STATE OF LOUISIANA, ex rel. William J. GUSTE, Jr., Attorney General, as Owner of the M/V GEORGE PRINCE, Petitioning for exoneration from or Limitation of Liability.

United States District Court, E. D. Louisiana.

January 19, 1977.


Attorney(s) appearing for the Case

Koerner, Babst & Lambert, Louis R. Koerner, Jr., Hugh P. Lambert, New Orleans, La., for Mrs. Dorothy McKeithen.

Curtis, Foster, Hyde & Mooney, Francis J. Mooney, Jr., New Orleans, La., for NOBR Steamship Pilots Assoc. & Nicholas F. Colombo.

Montgomery, Barnett, Brown & Read, Henry J. Read, Jones, Walker, Waechter, Poitevent Carrere & Denegre, John R. Peters, Jr., co-counsel, New Orleans, La., for Highway Dept. in No. 76-3654.

Warren E. Mouledoux, 1st Asst. Atty. Gen., Louis M. Jones, Donald Ensenat, Asst. Attys. Gen., New Orleans, La., Ronald R. Thompson, Asst. General Counsel, Dept. of Hwys., State of Louisiana, Baton Rouge, La., for plaintiffs in No. 76-3654.

Ungar, Dulitz, Jacobs & Manuel, David J. Kain, New Orleans, La., for Vincent Pardo.

Martzell & Montero, Charles W. Dittmer, Jr., New Orleans, La., for Beverly Hall and Mr. & Mrs. William E. Ford.

Don R. Riddle, Houston, Tex., for Brenda and Christopher Gast.

Charles R. Maloney, New Orleans, La., for Richard Wanko, Mrs. Wanko and Elizabeth Smith.

Darryl J. Tschirn, Metairie, La., Thomas S. Keaty, New Orleans, La., for Benjamin F. Pape, Sr.

Daniel E. Becnel, Jr., Reserve, La., for Linda Smith, Kim Parker Clement, Janice B. Barreca, Laevon Steve Poole, Schexnayder, Hymel, Duke and Maisle Keating Avadie.

William A. Summers, III, Metairie, La., for Lucille Smith, Herman Eugene Charlietta Williams.

Alfred E. McCaleb, III, Baton Rouge, La., for Mrs. Brenda Gast.

Harold S. Bartholomew, Metairie, La., for Janice Collins and Suyapa Dermody.

Leonard H. Rubenstein, New Orleans, La., for Mrs. Ann Masters Hastings.

James E. Kuhn, Denham Springs, La., for Elsie Anthony Gehegan, Robert Malcolm Jones, Sr., and Maxine Harroll Gehegan.

Joel T. Chaisson, Destrehan, La., for Kenneth J. Becnel and Janet F. Soileau Songy, and T & J Services.

Robert L. Huskey, Manchester, Tenn., for Margaret Hastings Van Oostrum and Wm. Quarles.

Walter E. Hollin, Metairie, La., for Mrs. Margie Suggs Snyder.

Stephen G. Sklambra, New Orleans, La., for Sylvia Durie Davis Billy Rex Williamson.

Sessions, Fisman, Rosenson, Snellings & Boisfontaine, Walter C. Thompson, Jr., New Orleans, La., for Wanda Zito Auleta.

John F. Fox, Jr., New Orleans La., for James O. Stewart and Joan B. Stewart.

Gordon W. Matheny, Hammond, La., for Sandra Schafer.

H. Alva Brumfield, III, Baton Rouge, La., for Eula Mae Monistere and Patricia Darlene Fabre Wheat.

Steven F. Griffith, Sr., Destrehan, La., for Patsy Beasley, Elainse Beasley Rogers, and Oswald and Emma Schexnayder.

Marvin L. Jeffers, Baton Rouge, La., for George F. Pritchett, Jr.

Charles R. Maloney, New Orleans, La., for William Alfred Quarles and Elizabeth Smith.

Eldon E. Fallon, New Orleans, La., for Herbert H. Minor, Daisy Minor Marts, and Richard Cobb, Sr.

Philip T. Hager, New Orleans, La., for Elizabeth Hills.

Grady C. Weeks, Houma, La., for Linda Ford.

Eldon S. Fallon, New Orleans, La., for Deborah Quarles.

Chester A. Eggleston, New Orleans, La., for Clara Allen.

Kent Satterlee, Jr., New Orleans, La., for Mrs. Vera Newton and Ellen Green.

W. K. Christovich, New Orleans, La., for Highlands Ins. Co.

Gothard J. Reck, New Orleans, La., for Mr. and Mrs. Ivan J. Pontiff and Barry J. Neyrey.

James H. Morrison, Hammond, La., for Holly Basso and Mrs. Delma Anthony Hughes.

Glenn J. Theriot, Hammond, La., for Ruby Nicolosi.

J. Thomas Nelson, New Orleans, La., for Helen White.

Robert J. Mack, Hammond, La., for Betty Rodriguez.

Vincent C. Cuccia, Metairie, La., David M. Smill, Harahan, La., for Cathy Lyons Balest and Cheri Lyons Balest.

Talbot, Sotile & Carmouche, Donaldsville, La., for Brian Broussard.

George & George, Baton Rouge, La., for Brian Broussard and David Broussard.

Crawford, Lambert & Goldsmith, Gonzales, La., for David Broussard.

Oswald A. DeCuir, New Iberia, La., for Tiny H. Harris.

Gipson, Gipson & Williamson, Meridian, Miss., for Tiny H. Harris, Barbara and Betty Harris.

Randy J. Ungar, New Orleans, La., for George Lingo.

William H. Roundtree, Cocoa, Fla., for Lucille Hodges.

Harold E. Kytle, Kenner, La., for Dan L. McLendon.

Benjamin J. Birdsall, Jr., New Orleans, La., for Virginia A. Pontiff.

Robert E. Tillery, Baton Rouge, La., for Margaret Dobson.

Samuel W. Ethridge, Kenner, La., for Teresa Fuller.

Philip J. Foto, New Orleans, La., for Mary Johnson.

John A. Shea, New Orleans, La., for Carliss Moore.

Taylor & Raggio, Baton Rouge, La., for Cathy Goldston.

James E. Blazek, New Orleans, La., for Rhonda LeBlanc and Jennifer Schexnayder.

Normand F. Pizza, New Orleans, La., for Richard A. Respass.

John T. Keys, Jr., Metairie, La., for D & H Trucking, Inc. and Charles Fisher.

Michael E. Wanek, New Orleans, La., for Jonathan E. Harris.

Paul J. Galuszka, New Orleans, La., for Janet Moore Marts.

Ronald Tanet, New Orleans, La., for Viola Fenroy.

Francis J. Mooney, Jr., Curtis, Foster, Hyde and Mooney, New Orleans, La., for NO-BR Steamship Pilots Assoc. Nos. 76-3654 and 76-3275.

Gerald Leydecker, New Orleans, La., for Brenda Williams Clayton Lawson.

Sidney D. Torres, III, Chalmette, La., for Richard Wanko.

James C. Murphy, Jr., New Orleans, La., for Southeastern Ins.

James S. Thompson, New Orleans, La., for State Farm Mutual.

Salvador E. Gutierrez, Jr., New Orleans, La., for Alvin Eugene, Georgiana Eugene, Mrs. Doris Anderson, Elvera Roberts Brown, Mrs. Marilyn Gail Mitchell Breaux.

Clyde A. Ramirez, Douglas St. Romain, New Orleans, La., for Odile Charles, Willie Mae Charles, Henrietta Williams, Aline Williams, Leona Washington.

Wendell H. Gauthier, New Orleans, La., for Ruby Johnson Dright.

A. C. Powell, III, Hammond, La., for Ruby Kirkland Nicolosi.

Paul A. Bonin, New Orleans, La., for Magaly Bodden.

C. William Bradley, Jr., Edgard, La., for Mary Lee Breaux.

Terrel J. Broussard, New Orleans, La., for Elwin David Randle.

Frederick J. Gisevius, Jr., New Orleans, La., Thomas W. Sanford, Jackson, Miss., for Mrs. Nilwon Boone Holmes.

James A. George, Baton Rouge, La., for Benny Hollie in No. 76-3654 and Carter, Willie and Pape in No. 76-3275.

A. Remy Fransen, Jr., New Orleans, La., for Kathleen Hecker.

William J. Jefferson, New Orleans, La., for Edgar Joe Holmes, Anthony Breaux, Anita Poole Stadler, Hollis R. Hodges, Michael N. Webre, Jerry M. Brown, Jr., Terry E. Norton, Melvin Dright, Jr., Ronald Wolfe.

George P. Webre, Metairie, La., for Leverne Randle.

Robert N. Clarke, Westwego, La., for Lynn Lyons Pearson.

Perrin C. Butler, New Orleans, La., for Barbara Ann Guerra and Charles C. Chatelain.

Dan C. Garner, New Orleans, La., for Sharon Claudette Michelli.

Terriberry, Carroll, Yancey & Farrell, Benjamin W. Yancey, Walter Carroll, Jr., for J. Ludwig Mowinkels Rederi, owner of the M/T Frosta.

Kierr, Gainsburgh, Benjamin, Fallon & Lewis, Eldon F. Fallon, New Orleans, La., for Daisy Minor Marts and Herbert H. Minor and Richard Cobb, Sr.

Gerald R. Kehoe, River Ridge, La., for Mary Lightsey.

Walter E. Kollin, Metairie, La., for Margie Suggs Snyder.

Bernard J. Bagert, Jr., New Orleans, La., for Elizabeth Smith and Wm. Quarles.

Don M. Arata, Bogalusa, La., for Mrs. Joyce H. McKeithen.

A. Remy Fransen, Jr., New Orleans, La., for Kathleen Hecker.

Norman Mopsik, New Orleans, La., for Josephine Rein Mixon.

Nigel Rafferty, Monroe & Lemann, New Orleans, La., for Southern American Insurance Co.


ALVIN B. RUBIN, District Judge:

This order delineates the role of the Plaintiff Discovery and Trial Committee in the litigation arising from the tragic October 20, 1976, collision between the Norwegian tanker, the M/T Frosta, and the Luling-Destrehan ferry, the M/V George Prince, in which 78 commuters lost their lives and others suffered bodily injury.

Within hours of the collision, Dorothy S. McKeithen, a survivor of one of the deceased commuters, filed suit...

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