Nowadays, when you think of worker’s compensation accidents,
you think of slips and falls, repetitive strains, tears, back and neck
injuries, the usual. You don’t think of
picking buckshot out of your arm because you’ve been fired upon by a ship’s
cannon.
No matter how outlandish your injury, you are entitled to seek compensation for injuries which may prevent you from returning to work. If you’ve got a claim, you should talk to an attorney to discuss your legal rights.
But that’s exactly what two deckhands on the Bill of Rights
are doing. During last week’s Tall Ships
Festival, the Bill of Rights set sail in the waters off Dana Point with many
other ships. Cannon fire is often a lively addition to the spectacle, but it’s
also usually fake. Generally this fire consists of puffs of smoke from
blanks. This time, the women aboard the
Bill of Rights weren’t so lucky. Someone
aboard the Amazing Grace thought that this year, they’d use live ammunition.
The two women struck, Donna Reed and Laura Huber, were
understandably surprised at this workplace accident. In a statement to the Los Angeles Times, Reed
said,
It was like a scene from 'The Exorcist'. I started to bleed in several different areas.”
While this is certainly your atypical
worker’s compensation accident, it is a workplace accident just the same. I’d love to be a fly on the wall of the
insurance company when they read that these women were shot on the job by
cannon. The claims adjuster might think
that someone was playing a practical joke on them.
No matter how outlandish your injury, you are entitled to seek compensation for injuries which may prevent you from returning to work. If you’ve got a claim, you should talk to an attorney to discuss your legal rights.
