Barge operator sued by mother of drowned worker

Barge operator Steel City Marine Transport, a Pennsylvania corporation, is being sued by the mother of a worker who drowned in the Ohio River on Dec. 31, 2005.

In a lawsuit filed Jan. 31 in St. Clair County Circuit Court, Victoria Stepanek claims her son Corey Stockl died after falling from the MV The Gregory Davie barge and drowning.

The lawsuit states that Stockl was a resident of Illinois. Stepanek is from the northern Illinois city of Bolingbrook.

Stepanek, represented by Thomas Q. Keefe of Belleville, is seeking at least $150,000 under the Illinois Wrongful Death Act and the Jones Act.

She claims the defendant was negligent for furnishing her son with a defective ratchet and for not furnishing adequate help from other crew members for the performance of his job.

"That as a direct and proximate result decedent was caused to fall into the river and drown," the complaint states.