A Louisiana man has filed a federal lawsuit against Connecticut-based American Cruise Lines Inc., claiming a door slammed on his right thumb causing partial amputation after the vessel collided with a dock.

In the eight-page lawsuit filed Thursday in U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut, Victor Buchholz says he was in the doorway exiting his cabin when the metal door unexpectedly slammed shut on his finger, primarily due to the collision.

Buchholz, the lawsuit says, was in his fourth day on the Queen of the West cruise ship in June 2018. The voyage went from Portland, Oregon, and ended in Clarkston, Washington. The cruise line sailed in the waters of the Columbia and Snake rivers and the incident occurred, the lawsuit says, when the small ship was docking in The Dulles, Oregon.

The lawsuit says the Queen of the West had knowledge or should have known “of the dangerous condition of the door,” and was negligent because it failed to take corrective action to fix it and to put passengers on alert.

Among other things, the lawsuit states the company “failed to warn the plaintiff of the dangerous condition of his cabin door, and in particular, fail[ed] to warn of its propensity to swing shut unexpectedly due to vessel motion.” In addition, the suit says, the cruise line also failed to “exercise reasonable care in maintaining, inspecting and warning passengers concerning their cabin doors.”

The door, the lawsuit says, should have been “calibrated so as to prevent it from slamming suddenly or unexpectedly.”

And, the suit alleges, the incident was avoidable because the cruise line should have known that the route in question could have rough sea conditions.

Because of the incident, the suit maintains, Buchholz sustained mental anguish, was disfigured and suffered aggravation of preexisting injuries. He also incurred an undetermined amount of medical and health care bills, the suit says.

American Cruise Lines offers 35 cruise itineraries that visit 28 states, according to its website. The company, which was founded in 1991 and is based in Guilford, operates six small ships along the eastern and western seaboards, as well as the Mississippi-Ohio and Columbia-Snake river systems.

As of Friday morning, American Cruise Lines had not named an attorney to represent it in the lawsuit. No one from the company's media and public relations department responded to a request for comment Friday. The company does not have a legal department, but company treasurer Susan Renner told the Connecticut Law Tribune she'd attempt to get a company comment. No one had commented at press time.

Representing Buchholz is New Haven solo practitioner K. Wynne Bohonnon, who did not respond to a request for comment Friday.

Judge Warren Eginton is scheduled to hear the case.