Eva Ruth Bertrand, Individually and as Natural Tutrix of the Minors v. Forest Corporation

The appellants sued for the wrongful death of Joseph P. Bertrand who was on the payroll of Forest Oil Corporation as a pumper. His duties included the checking and recording of meters, readings of gas pressures and flow at the several gas wells situated some 33 miles off the coast of Louisiana.1 Each well had a stationary protector platform set on pilings driven into the floor of the Gulf of Mexico. The structure rested on four metal piers which supported three steel decks. The platforms were unmanned and a helicopter was used to transport Bertrand from the shore to the wells to perform his…