Mark Barhanovich

Initially, the dredging firm, C.F. Bean, filed Praying to Exoneration from or Limitation of Liability in Federal Court in the Southern District of Mississippi. The document was basically a Jones Act filing asking the court to apply a law in which their liability could be limited to the value of their barge and its contents (a pile of dirt). The court then asked anyone with a claim against Bean to file it by a certain date. Mr. Barhanovich’s widow filed, and the case began.

Over time some other divisions of Bean and Archer Western Contractors, a firm associated with the dredging operation were brought into the case.

Bean then asked the court to bring some third parties into the case,

• Suzuki of Japan
• Suzuki of America – later dismissed because they had filed bankruptcy after the accident
• Bob’s Machine, manufacturer of the jack plat on the vessel, later dismissed because the jack plate was found to not have played a factor in the accident

Mark Barhanovich’s center console fishing boat.
Photo from Edward Fritsch expert witness report

Mr. Barhanovich’s survivors did not want to allow more parties into the case. They wanted to keep the focus on the dredging operation not properly marking the pipe. The family apparently felt that allowing more players into the case would muddy up the water prolonging the case and make it more complex.

Eventually, Bean and Archer reached a settlement with the Barhanovich family.

Then Bean tried to recover some of their losses from Suzuki of Japan.

All parties involved announced a settlement in a court filing dated 30 November 2018.

The actual case was listed as:

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF MISSISSIPPI SOUTHERN DIVISION
IN THE MATTER OF C.F. BEAN, L.L.C., AS OWNER PRO HAC VICE AND OPERATOR, AND BEAN MERIDIAN, L.L.C., AS THE RECORD OWNER, OF THE BARGE BEAN 20, OFFICIAL NO. 627225, PRAYING FOR EXONERATION FROM OR LIMITATION OF LIABILITY
CONSOLIDATED WITH:
JERRIE P. BARHANOVICH, EXECUTRIX AND PERSONAL REPRESENTATIVE OF THE ESTATE OF MARK BARHANOVICH, DECEASED
v.
C.F. BEAN, L.L.C.,
BEAN MERIDIAN, L.L.C., AND
ARCHER WESTERN CONTRACTORS, L.L.C.
v.
SUZUKI MOTOR CORPORATION, SUZUKI MOTOR OF AMERICA, INC., AND RSM INTERNATIONAL, INC., D/B/A BOB’S MACHINE SHOP

Civil No. 1:3cv77-HSO-RHW

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We wrote several articles on the case as it progressed through the system. Those articles can be found by clicking on “Barhanovich” in the tag cloud to the right of this article.