EAST ST. LOUIS – River worker Troy Hawks of Kentucky forged a signature on an injury report and committed perjury five times by denying he did it, Luhr Brothers of Columbia alleges in U.S. district court on Feb. 24.
Luhr Brothers counsel Ronald Fox of St. Louis asked District Judge David Dugan to sanction Hawks by dismissing his negligence suit with prejudice.
Fox claims Hawks’s conduct warranted the most serious sanction because it resulted in material harm to Luhr Brothers and the judicial process itself.
He claims Hawks made matters worse by failing to preserve a telephone that could have shed light on his actions and communications.
He attached excerpts of depositions including one where Hawks’s lawyer asked Luhr Brothers supervisor Jim Biggs how he knew the signature wasn’t his.
Biggs said, “I don’t sign Jimmy Biggs. It’s Jim or James…And then that’s not my handwriting.”
Attorney Hugh Lambert of New Orleans filed the suit in 2019, along with Cayce Peterson and Jacki Smith of his firm.
They sued under the national Jones Act, which allows seamen to resolve injury claims through litigation rather than workers’ compensation.
Lambert wrote that Hawks, third engineer on the Alois Luhr, assisted in maintenance and operations of the vessel including the engine.
On Jan. 10, 2017, between Mississippi and Arkansas, Hawks allegedly sustained severe and permanent injuries to his mind and body.
“In the process of repairing a pump, plaintiff was asked to assist in moving an impeller. The impeller was abruptly dropped onto plaintiff’s shoulder, causing his injury,” Lambert wrote.
He claims Luhr Brothers failed to provide safe gear and an adequate crew, and required Hawks to perform his duties under unsafe conditions.
At a deposition last October, Fox asked Hawks what he did when he got done with the report.
Hawks said he took it back upstairs.
Fox asked if he had a captain sign it and Hawks said yes.
“We talked about it, you know, went over it with him and he signed it,” Hawks said.
Fox asked if he stood there and saw the captain sign the report. Hawks said yes.
Fox asked if the captain signed it before or after they talked about what happened.
Hawks said, “After we talked about it.”
Fox asked if he told the captain that Scott dropped the pump on his shoulder.
Hawks said, “I didn’t say Scott dropped it. I said, you know, it dropped.”
Fox said, “After you talked about it, Captain Biggs signed, and then did you leave the accident report with him?"
Hawks said yes, and Fox asked if it got sent to the safety manager in Columbia.
Hawks said, “Yes, it got sent right after I gave it to Jim.”
Fox reminded Hawks that he was under oath and asked if it was his testimony that Biggs signed the form.
Hawks said, “Signed his name, yes.”
Fox said, “You saw him do it? That’s your testimony?” Hawks said yes.
Fox asked if he was aware that Biggs said he didn’t sign it, and Hawks said no.
Fox said, “Are you aware of the fact that he said he had no idea this accident happened?” Hawks said no.
Fox said, “Are you aware of the fact that he said that is not his signature?”
Lambert objected and said, “How is he supposed to know that?”
Fox said Biggs signed the vessel log as J. Biggs and the J didn’t look the same on the accident report versus the vessel log.
Hawks said no and Fox said, “And the B doesn’t look the same?”
Hawks said, “I guess not but I’m just saying that I took it back to the wheelhouse. He signed it.”
Fox asked if it was true that the signature on the accident report didn’t look like Biggs’s signature.
Lambert objected and said, “You’re asking him to tell you whether or not the two signatures look alike?”
Fox said, “Don’t you agree that those are not signed by the same person?”
Hawks said, “They don’t look the same but I can’t say that it’s not the same person because I seen him sign this.”
Lambert’s turn came and he asked Hawks if he hid the injury from anybody.
Hawks said no, and Lambert asked if he filled out an accident report.
Hawks said yes, and Lambert asked if he watched the captain send it in.
Hawks said, “I seen Jimmy put it over there in the machine to get ready to send it.”
Fox pursued a separate line of questions about a cell phone Hawks used in 2017.
He asked if the engine room had email capability and Hawks said he believed so.
Fox asked if his phone could connect to the internet and Hawks said yes.
Fox asked if the old phone would have all his messages and information going back to the accident, and Hawks said yes.
Fox asked if he had the old phone and Hawks said, “Somewhere at the house, yes. It’s laying in a drawer.”
Fox turned to Lambert and said he requested information off that phone and was told Hawks had no such data because he got a new phone.
Lambert said, “We’ll look and see if there’s a phone. If there is, you can have it.”
Fox asked Hawks if he had the old phone when he filed suit and Hawks said yes.
Eleven days later, according to Fox’s motion for sanctions, Lambert advised Luhr Brothers that Hawks couldn’t locate the old phone.
Biggs sat for a deposition in December, and Fox asked if he remembered any conversation in the wheelhouse about an accident report.
Biggs said no, and Fox asked if he was shown a report before the deposition.
Biggs said that was correct, and Fox asked if he had seen it before.
Biggs said, “I had never seen that before until it was shown to me.”
Fox said, “You never took part in any preparation of that report?” Biggs said no.
Fox said, “It’s not your handwriting?” Biggs said no.
Fox said, “Not your signature?” Biggs said no.
Lambert’s turn came and he asked Biggs if he signed his name different ways.
Biggs said he signed it James or Jim.
Lambert asked if he sometimes signed it just J and Biggs said, “Sometimes it appears to be just a J with some scribble, sure.”
Fox’s turn came and he asked Biggs if he authorized anybody to sign his name.
Biggs said, “Absolutely not.”
Fox asked if he would have mentioned an incident involving Hawks to another captain when watches changed, and Biggs said that was correct.
Fox asked if they had any conversation about it and Biggs said, “We did not.”
In Fox’s motion for sanctions, he claimed the only remaining question is how the report was transmitted to Columbia.
He claimed engineers could send email from a computer in their office, “when tethered to a cell phone with a data connection.”
He attached to the motion a separation report that Hawks and the other Luhr Brothers captain signed at watch change.
A check in a box shows “normal scheduled relief.”
Another check appears in a No box on a line asking if Hawks experienced illness or injury in the course of the trip.
Stanislav Levchinsky of Fox’s firm also represents Luhr Brothers.
Dugan has set jury trial in August.