SAN FRANCISCO – Two Yemeni seamen have filed a suit against the owners and chief mate of shipping vessel, alleging a hostile work environment.
Meree Mused and Saleem Mohamed filed a complaint on Feb. 16 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California against Crowley Maritime Corp., Waterman Steamship Corp., U.S. Ocean LLC and Peter Stalkus, citing unseaworthiness and discrimination.
According to the complaint, the plaintiffs allege that, on or around Feb. 16, 2015, they suffered physical and psychiatric injuries at the hands of one or more colleagues on their employers' vessel, the Ocean Giant. The plaintiffs hold the defendants responsible because they allegedly caused these injuries deliberately, in the case of Stalkus, or through breach of duty, in the case of the companies that owned the vessel.
The plaintiffs seek the following: damages of $1 million, attorney's fees, prejudgment interest as allowed by law, and other relief. They are represented by Arnold I. Berschler of Berschler Associates PC in San Francisco.
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California Case number 3:16-cv-00763-EDL