On Monday in a Houston court a case began where a man is seeking more than $1m in compensation for injuries suffered when Friede & Goldman jack-up under construction for Noble Drilling tilted while under construction at Jurong Shipyard in Singapore in 2012.
David Carnes, of Kingswood, Texas, is suing Friede & Goldman, Noble Drilling Services, Noble Drilling International and Noble Drilling Exploration Co for what were described as severe injuries to his back, hand and other parts of his body when the Noble Regina Allen titled over in December 2012 with more than 1,000 workers onboard, 89 of whom were injured in the accident.
The plaintiff’s attorney has said that this was “a case where bad engineering met with reckless decision-making which led to a spectacular disaster”.
“We know that the computer code used to direct the rig’s vertical movement was bad, and we know the breaks used to control the movement were woefully insufficient, but no one is accepting fault. At trial, we’ll be asking a jury to determine who ultimately bears responsibility for this completely preventable disaster,” the attorney said.