Thibodeaux v. Rowan Drilling Co‪.‬

In this case the District Court awarded Leroy Thibodeaux judgment for $70,885.56 for injuries sustained while at work on an off-shore submersible drilling barge afloat in the Gulf of Mexico near Venice, Louisiana, 314 F. Supp. 543 (W.D., La., 1970). We affirm on both direct and cross appeals. The District Court, sitting without a jury, found and held that drill tongs with worn dies in use at the time of the injury rendered the vessel unseaworthy, that Thibodeaux was not contributorily negligent, and that he was injured as a proximate result of the unseaworthy condition.