The widow of a sailor wants the Latvian Shipping Co., owner of a Liberian-registered cargo ship, to pay at least USD 1.58 million for what she claims was the wrongful death of her husband two years ago while the vessel was docked at Corpus Christi, Texas.

Lawyers for Larisa Gerasimenko of Rīga last year filed suit in U.S. federal court arguing the defendants are liable for breach of contract, wrongful death, negligence and gross negligence. Her husband, 51-year-old Vasilijs Gerasimenko, died Aug. 27, 2008, from hyperthermia caused by working in the hot engine room of the ship, according to the civil complaint.

Named as defendants in the lawsuit, filed in September 2009 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, are the Latvian Shipping Co. (Latvijas Kuģniecība), LSC Shipmanagement Ltd., and the Cape Wind Trading Co.

According to the lawsuit, Liberia-based Cape Wind is the registered owner of the oil and chemical tanker ship M/T Indra. LSC Shipmanagement is the manager of the vessel, while Latvian Shipping is the group owner of the Indra. Gerasimenko began working for Cape Wind in July 2007.

Latvian Shipping, Cape Wind and LSC Shipmanagement want the court to dismiss the lawsuit. Their U.S.-based attorney, as well as the attorneys for Larisa Gerasimenko, did not respond to several requests for comment. Neither did Latvian Shipping. However, details of the case are revealed in court documents.

The Indra arrived at Corpus Christi on Aug. 25, 2008, and the crew began work on repairing the ship’s engine. Gerasimenko, an engineer, was required to work in the engine room for nearly a day and a half with little rest, according to complaint. The temperature in the engine room was measured to be as high as 70 degrees Celsius (158 degrees Fahrenheit).

On the morning of Aug. 27, less than two hours after finishing work, Gerasimenko told crewmembers he was not feeling well. An ambulance took him to a hospital, but 45 minutes later he was pronounced dead. An autopsy determined his death was caused by hyperthermia from working in the hot engine room, according to the complaint.

The lawsuit claims Latvian Shipping and the other defendants were negligent, careless and willfully failed to provide safe working conditions for Gerasimenko. Further, Oyster Bay, N.Y.-based attorneys George M. Chalos and Kerri M. D’Ambrosia claim in the lawsuit, the defendants have not provided any compensation to Gerasimenko’s family in Rīga—including paying for funeral expenses.

If Gerasimenko had lived until retirement at age 62, he would have earned USD 976,800 under his contract with the shipping company, according to the complaint.

In his answers to the lawsuit, New York attorney Patrick F. Lennon admits that Gerasimenko worked for Cape Wind, but not for Latvian Shipping or LSC Shipmanagement. While denying they were responsible for the sailor’s death, the defendants also suggest Gerasimenko was himself negligent. The companies also question whether the U.S. federal district court has jurisdiction in the case.

According to a scheduling order for the case, attorneys for both sides are working on interviewing witnesses and other non-experts, with a deadline of Sept. 10. Attorneys are then to tell the court whether they might settle the case or be referred to a mediation program.

A month before the Oct. 2 Saeima election, a new independent website designed to bring Latvia’s voters and parliamentary candidates together to discuss issues has been opened by the Rīga-based public policy center Providus.

Called gudrasgalvas.lv, the site allows candidates for the 10th Saeima to post profiles and issues statements, while voters can pose questions to the candidates, Providus announced in a press release.

“We want to leave to the past those times when the main election communication was one-way—the candidate communicates through a commercial, the voter watches without a word,” Vita Tērauda, director of Providus, said in the press release. “The thickness of a party’s wallet should not determine the possibility and frequency of communication.”

More than 260 candidate profiles have already been posted to the website, according to the press release. More than 1,200 candidates from 13 parties are running for election.

To encourage participation, Providus is offering diplomas to the most active users of the website.

The Providus-run gudrasgalvas.lv is not the only independent website recently created to foster discussion before the election. Other sites include:

• desmitnieks.lv, sponsored by the Latvian Aid Committee of Sweden (Zviedrijas Latviešu palīdzības komiteja) and meant for Latvian citizens abroad. The site—and an analagous print version, Desmitnieks, that appears as a supplement to the exile newspaper Brīvā Latvija—poses one question per week to the political parties and provides an expert’s analysis of the responses. The site opened Aug. 16.
• parunpret.lv, a project of the “Domā, par ko balso!” movement and backed by the Soros Foundation-Latvia, mostly offers links to analytical articles about politics in Latvia. The site includes a study by the Free Trade Union Confederation of Latvia (Latvijas Brīvo arodbiedrību savienība) of whether parties serving in the current Saeima kept their campaign promises.
• ejambalsot.lv, an effort to foster civic involvement in the political process, began in February. Backed by the World Federation of Free Latvians (Pasaules brīvo latviešu apvienība), the Election Reform Society (Vēlēšanu reformas biedrība) and a number of other organizations of Latvians abroad, the website offers a series of challenges to voters, politicians, the media and other organizations on how to better the political process.
• kandidatiuzdelnas.lv, created by the Rīga-based anti-corruption watchdog organization Delna, offers a database to examine the reputations of parliamentary candidates. The site also publishes analytical articles about the political process in Latvia.
• Pirmā reize, a page on the social network draugiem.lv, aims to help young voters evaluate Latvian politicians. The page is backed by the family planning and sexual health association Papardes zieds, the Latvian National Coalition for Tobacco and Alcohol Control (Tabakas un alkohola kontroles Latvijas nacionālā koalīcija) and various youth organizations. The page includes a video gallery of various politicians’ comments on education, health and politics.