Winning the Lottery....

There is nothing saying he is only now suffering. Sounds like his suffering started in May. And his story sounds very logical. As to who employed him for the work, we don't know. A good warning to be sure any company you use to perform work is licensed, bonded and insured. His real case would probably be against his employer but his employer probably doesn't have Page deep pockets. If his allegations are correct he has a very reasonable case. A person can incur severe harm working in unsafe conditions and while I'm sure his attorney has tossed in the kitchen sink full of illnesses, many of them could result from working with a long ago outlawed chemical without protection you'd use even with a safer one.

The courts can decide if he's making this all up or if he's suffered permanent harm to his health.

Nothing at all out of the ordinary here. This is a workers comp case. Employers get sued every day. Back when the California worker's comp system was an ATM machine I would get sued on what seemed like a weekly basis. Most were attempting to win the lottery.

As for this story, I doubt Page owns the boat personally. Also, where was the boat when the alleged injuries occurred? Who employed him? And is the vessel foreign flagged?

It isn't a worker's comp claim against Page unless he is the employer. Everyone else whose negligence contributed to the alleged injuries is potentially liable. The fact that Page may own the boat through a fictitious entity doesn't protect his equity, or even his personal liability if it can be shown that he, personally acted in some negligent way. Similarly, a foreign flag will not protect against liability for losses caused negligently within the US.

What do you think are the odds that Page was personally involved?

One in 10,000.

Why are there so many losers try to get some money from the rich? Is it because all these rotten attorneys wants a share of it?

Had it crossed your mind that in this case it might be because this "loser's" health was irreparably damaged through the actions of his supervisors in a flagrant disregard for his safety? He might just be a legitimate victim. Now I can't say for certain whether he is or not, but I'm sure not going to jump on the bandwagon blasting him without knowing the legitimacy of his allegations.

No, that didn't cross my mind for a second!
What crosses my mind is, that this painter -if true- had to take his own responsibility, he could easily walked away from the start, if the circumstances where not OK.
If he was a pro, he should have known the risks, the moment you stay on the job, you accept the risk.
Where in this world do people still take their (professional) responsibilities instead of crying and try to steal other people’s money??

Who said he was a pro? Probably an hourly worker assigned a job to do. How should he have known they were using an outlawed chemical? In retrospect he should have walked away, but perhaps the family at home needing to be fed weighed in his decision. He trusted the professionals. He followed a supervisor's orders. If his health is damaged as described (and I have no way of knowing if it is) then all the money won't change that. He was likely a guy hired at $8 an hour to go strip some paint, with little or no experience in doing so. It is an employer's responsibility to provide safe working conditions.

Once in my career I encountered a situation where we failed an employee in that regard. The employee went to a local doctor. Turns out that doctor had family connections to us. He called us warning that there was a new chemical introduced recently (actually a solvent for removing spots from fabric) and as to the employee's issues. We immediately had that chemical removed, the entire area aired and medical check ups for everyone else exposed. The product was quickly removed from the market. We compensated the harmed employee, took all responsibility for their medical care for their life and did what we could to offset the damage done. We did not use Worker's Compensation Laws to limit our responsibility. But we couldn't undo the damage to their lungs. It hurt tremendously to know that. We failed to protect that employee. They had no way of knowing. And they thought they were just coming down with a cold.

How do you possibly come to this conclusion. Those are extremely serious symptoms and charges. It should also be easy enough to verify whether resperators were used on the job and what chemicals were used. Only due to lawsuits did the U.S. develope standards of care for employees. It wasn't done out of benevolance. If the worker was treated, and damaged as claimed, a lawsuit is absolutely called for. Unfortunately all employers aren't the norm IMO. Resperators cost money, and that's profit.

An employers insurance, if he has any, doesn't absolve the homeowner or yachtowner of liability. It's just the first resource to be tapped. Even in this country most jobbers in marinas carry a one million dollar limit. Something like this could easily eclipse that.

What do you ask for to make sure a vendor is insured and bonded? How do you verify coverage is current?

All of this is complicated that you are often begging to get busy vendors to show up

Get a copy of the policy front page, or binder from the vendor. The Agent contact will be on it. Call them to confirm limits and that the policy is current and insurance is in force. If you can get it an email from the agent that's even better.

Beyond confirming that the yard etc is insured, the owner will not be protected without being an additional insured on the yard's policy.

Most yards today require vendors to register with them before working on boats there, at which time they check the insurance (or should ) because they'll be the first ones sued behind the vendor in most cases, and generally have the deep pockets unless they can point to an insurance company.

To the question of why some one would stay if they knew or at least suspected that they may be in harm is kind of easy really. MONEY to pay bills or feed his family or what have you. No I have not read the article yet, my bat is low on this tablet so I wanted to post before I shut down.
I painted on several jobs where I knew I was in trouble or inhailing bad fumes but if I left I was out of a job cause paid under the table leave one with no rights. lol Head ache for a day and all was ok.

I checked the MSDS for the paint stripper in question. It contained Methylene chloride, Toluene, Carbon tetrachloride, Chloroform, Benzene. Central nervous system depression and peripheral neuropathy are totally reasonable symptoms to expect, as are redness and inflammation. Early onset Alzheimer (which is a genetic disease he had to be born with), diabetes (which would also cause peripheral neuropathy), and COPD are definitely not reasonable claims, but almost certainly form the bulk of their medical expenses.

His story about what happened to him may well be true, he may have found himself vomiting due to inadequate safety precautions and ventilation, but he probably wasn't the picture of health before hand, and larry paige certainly didn't travel back in time to ruin his health.