Court Says Employer Cal Dive Failed to Establish that Unrelated Illness Should Preclude Worker’s Disability Award

NEW ORLEANS — A federal judge has denied summary judgment to Cal Dive International Inc. (NYSE: DVR), which maintains that a former employee’s disability claim should be rejected in large part because the claimant’s unrelated lung cancer — not the alleged injury — will prevent him from working again.

Judge Kurt D. Engelhardt of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana ruled April 2 that Cal Dive failed to meet its burden of establishing that there is no genuine dispute remaining.

Plaintiff Emmett R. Cutchall Jr., 51, a seaman and resident of Poplarville, Miss., alleges that an …