Family of El Faro crewman files $100M lawsuit

Michael Hanson, a spokesman for Tote, said the company refused to discuss individual lawsuits. “One of those is that the USA merchant fleet gets smaller and smaller and older and older”, said Jacksonville maritime attorney Rod Sullivan.

Gary said the lawsuit was also meant to elicit change in the shipping industry and would hopefully provide information for relatives with questions. That $100 million figure isn’t in the suit.

“You could’ve waited. The ship was not seaworthy and you all should’ve known that”. “We understand they could have gotten a different ship, they could have sailed a different route”. “So $100 million is nearly peanuts”. Two graduates of Massachusetts Maritime Academy, Keith Griffin, 33, a Winthrop native, and Jeff Mathias, 42, of Kingston, were aboard the doomed ship.

Jordan’s family attended the news conference, but did not speak. A new question has surfaced: Could a 100-year-old law have played a part in the condition of the El Faro?

“It’s in God’s hands”, his maternal grandmother, Faye Cummings, said in the interview, “but we feel like they made the wrong decision”.

The owners of El Faro insist the captain had a “sound plan” to avoid Hurricane Joaquin, a plan that only unraveled when the ship’s main propulsion stopped working. It was the last communication from the ship as it headed into the hurricane.

The Coast Guard believes the ship sank not long after its captain radioed the ship had lost power northeast of Crooked Island, Bahamas, just as Hurricane Joaquin was growing into a Category 4 storm in the area.

The search was suspended October. 7.

The US National Transportation Safety Board is conducting an investigation into the circumstances surrounding El Faro’s disappearance.

Check back with jacksonville.com and Thursday’s Times-Union for updates.