CHICAGO (JGL) – United States District Court Judge Nannette Jolivette Brown of the U.S. District Court of Eastern Louisiana in New Orleans has ruled that if a spouse and children of a deceased Filipino oil rig worker Ellroy A. Corporal are still alive, his surviving parents have no standing to sue for damages.
In granting the motion to dismiss filed by defendants Black Elk, Wood Group, Shamrock and Grand Isle, Judge Brown cited Articles 2315.1 and 2315.2 of the Civil Code of Louisiana, which say that “where deceased is survived by a spouse and/or children, the deceased‘s parents have no right to recover damages. Without the right to recovery, the parents have no standing and cannot receive any damages, including punitive damages.”
Brown said, “All claims of Roberto Corporal and Monica Corporal against Black Elk, Wood Group, Shamrock and Grand Isle are dismissed with prejudice.” The Corporals are parents of Ellroy A. Corporal, 42, a rigger from Iligan City in the Philippines, one of the three Filipino oil rig workers, who died in 2012 explosion on the Black Elk Energy Offshore Operations LLC West Delta 32 Block platform in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico, about 17 miles southeast of Grand Isle, Louisiana.