The El Faro lawsuit attorneys came from a handful of firms: Willie Gary in Florida, Lipcon Margulies and Winkleman in Miami, Arnold and Itkin in Houston, and other individual counsel including Scott Wagner. Between October 2015 and April 2017, they filed wrongful death claims for all 33 crew members lost when the cargo ship sank in Hurricane Joaquin, and every claim settled with TOTE Maritime before trial. Financial terms were mostly kept confidential.
Willie Gary
Willie Gary, a prominent Florida trial lawyer, filed the first lawsuit in the case on October 14, 2015, roughly two weeks after the sinking and before TOTE moved to cap its liability. The suit was brought in Duval County Court on behalf of the family of crew member Lonnie Jordan and sought $100 million. It named TOTE Services and Captain Michael Davidson as defendants, alleging that the company sent a 41-year-old ship into dangerous weather knowing it was not seaworthy.1NBC News. Family of El Faro Crew Member Files $100M Lawsuit2News4Jax. El Faro’s Parent Company Sued for $100 Million
Gary said publicly that naming Davidson was meant to identify “all responsible parties” rather than to seek money from the captain’s survivors.
Lipcon, Margulies and Winkleman
The Miami-based maritime firm Lipcon, Margulies and Winkleman represented the largest single group of El Faro families: seven crew members, including five Polish nationals. The firm filed wrongful death suits against TOTE Maritime and the estate of Captain Davidson.
Lipcon Margulies ultimately resolved its clients’ claims collectively for approximately $10 million, a figure the firm described as the largest group of El Faro claims handled by any single law office. It is also the only publicly confirmed recovery figure from the entire litigation.3Lipcon, Margulies & Winkleman. TOTE / Sea Star Line / El Faro
Arnold and Itkin
Houston-based Arnold and Itkin LLP represented four families: those of Anthony Shawn Thomas, Joe Edward Hargrove, Howard John Schoenly, and German Solar-Cortes. Attorney Jason Itkin publicly criticized TOTE’s use of the 1851 Limitation of Liability Act, accusing the company of pressuring families into accepting less than their claims were worth.4News4Jax. 3 More El Faro Families Settle With TOTE
Arnold and Itkin’s clients were the last holdouts in the litigation. In early 2017, Itkin said, “These widows deserve justice. Our clients want to know the truth about what happened, and they want Tote to acknowledge that their husbands’ lives had meaning.” On April 13, 2017, the firm filed the “full and final settlement” for the final three families with the court. No financial details were disclosed.5Jacksonville.com. Tote Settles Wrongful Death Cases With Last Three El Faro Families
Other Counsel
Scott Wagner represented the family of crew member Jackie Jones Jr.6WCVB. El Faro Owners File Lawsuit to Block Legal Action Separate court filings on behalf of five Polish crew members — Krause, Nita, Podgorski, Truszkowski, and Zdobych — alleged that the ship’s operators had ignored tropical storm warnings and that Captain Davidson planned to “outrun” the hurricane using a shorter route.7Courthouse News. Owners of Lost Cargo Ship Seek Liability Cap
How TOTE’s Liability Cap Shaped the Attorneys’ Work
On October 30, 2015, TOTE Maritime Puerto Rico and TOTE Services filed a petition in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, Jacksonville Division, seeking exoneration from or limitation of liability under the Limitation of Liability Act of 1851. The case was docketed as No. 3:15-cv-01209.8Professional Mariner. Tote Seeks Protection From Liability in El Faro Deaths9News4Jax. TOTE Lawsuits Court Document
The petition asked the court to cap TOTE’s total liability at roughly $15.3 million, the estimated post-sinking value of the vessel and its pending freight. If granted, that sum would have covered every claim from every family combined. TOTE maintained the ship had been “in all respects seaworthy and properly manned, equipped and supplied.”7Courthouse News. Owners of Lost Cargo Ship Seek Liability Cap
The filing changed the terrain for every attorney in the case. A federal court injunction froze existing lawsuits and required every potential claimant to file in Jacksonville federal court by December 21, 2015, or risk losing the right to recover anything.10Florida Justice. El Faro: Federal Court Enters Order Demanding Claims Come Forward Before December 21 Cases already filed in Duval County, Broward County, and other state courts were pulled into the single federal proceeding.
To defeat the cap, families’ lawyers had to prove that TOTE had “privity or knowledge” of the conditions that made the vessel unseaworthy before it left port. They pointed to the ship’s maintenance history, low lube oil levels, a broken anemometer, and the company’s failure to provide adequate weather tools or shore-side storm-avoidance support.
Settlement Timeline
The 33 wrongful death claims settled on a rolling basis over roughly eighteen months, driven by mediations and formal settlement conferences overseen by Magistrate Judge Monte Richardson.
- By late 2015, the first families to settle included those of Captain Davidson, five Polish crew members, and Jacksonville Beach resident Roan Lightfoot, among others. By early 2016, ten families had reached agreements.
- In March 2016, four more families settled, bringing the total to fourteen. Each settling family received $500,000 for pre-death pain and suffering, plus an additional, undisclosed amount for economic losses including lost wages.11News4Jax. 4 More El Faro Families Settle With TOTE
- By January 2017, TOTE reported that 28 of 33 families had settled, with five estates still outstanding.12Jacksonville.com. El Faro Owner Has Settled Wrongful Death Cases With 28 Families
- On April 13, 2017, the final three families, all represented by Arnold and Itkin, filed the last settlement.
What the Settlements Did and Didn’t Produce
By November 2017, every wrongful death claim and the hundreds of associated cargo claims had been resolved. The federal limitation of liability proceeding, which had a trial date set for April 2018 before Senior Judge Schlesinger, became moot and was terminated without a ruling on TOTE’s petition.13Loyola Maritime Law Journal. The Continued Vitality of the Shipowner’s Limitation of Liability Act of 1851
Because every claim settled before trial, the court never ruled on whether TOTE had privity or knowledge of the El Faro’s unseaworthy condition. The 1851 Limitation of Liability Act was never tested in this case. The total amount TOTE paid across all 33 families was never publicly disclosed. Beyond the roughly $10 million recovered by Lipcon, Margulies and Winkleman for its seven clients, and the $500,000 pain-and-suffering component confirmed for the March 2016 group, the full financial picture remains sealed.