Lawsuit Blames Ship Pilot's Pharmacists in '07 Cosco Busan Accident
In 2007, the Cosco Busan container ship crashed into the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge spilling thousands of gallons of oil into the San Francisco Bay. Now, the ship owners and operators of the vessel involved have sued pharmacists based out of Northern California, claiming that they negligently distributed prescription drugs to the ship’s pilot during the time of the incident.
Regal Stone Ltd. (ship’s owner) and Fleet Management Ltd. (ship’s operator) both insist that the pills given to pilot John Cota by pharmacists at Longs drug store completely hindered his judgment and clouded his reflexes, ultimately leading to the crash.
According to the Washington Post, the ship spilled more than 50,000 gallons of oil into the bay after it collided with a bridge tower. The fuel traveled to beaches north and south of San Francisco, and biologists have blamed the spill for the deaths of more than 2,400 birds.
CVS Caremark, the company who owns Longs, is taking no responsibility or liability in the case yet and plans to fight the lawsuit.
Already, Regal Stone and Fleet Management agreed to pay $4.4 million in damages to federal, state and local agencies and another $3.6 million to 120 members of the Bay Area fishing community. Fleet Management was additionally fined another $10 million after the company pleaded guilty to polluting and filing false documents.
Legal documents show that the two companies feel that the pharmacy should be responsible for some of their hefty bill, as they did not properly warn Cota about the dangers of combining drugs, nor did they reach out to his doctors or pilot licensing authorities. The lawsuit does not list the specific drugs Cota took or say why he was prescribed them, but reports show that an unidentified pharmacy worker allegedly sent the Coast Guard an e-mail after the November 2007 accident, advising investigators to check John Cota for prescription drugs.
The National Transportation Safety Board concluded the investigation by stating that Cota’s cognitive abilities had been tainted by prescription drug use. The board also questioned Cota, who had been a licensed pilot for 27 years, for choosing to sail in heavy fog, misreading the ship’s radar and navigation charts and failing to share his navigation plan’s with the captain. Cota pleaded guilty in 2009 to federal charges of causing water pollution and was sentenced to 10 months in prison, reports the San Francisco Chronicle.
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