Unseaworthiness
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Get Help NowThe vessel is the mariner’s workplace. The ship’s equipment, the vessel’s equipment, are his toolkit and a vessel owner or the operator owes a nondelegable duty, absolutely nondelegable duty to provide the mariner with a seaworthy vessel. Seaworthiness takes in equipment, that you have the proper safe and efficient equipment to perform the task at hand and safety. It also takes in the complement of the crew, the officers. Are the officers competent? Is there is sufficient amount workers or crew members to do the specific job at hand in a safe manner? The vessel owner owes the nondelegable duty to the mariner to provide a reasonably safe place to work, a reasonably safe vessel under the circumstances. Is the ship fit for its intended purpose? If there’s any question at all of the mariner as to whether a certain condition caused your injury and is actionable, call us. We’re experts at this and we’ll help you.
Unseaworthiness
About the Firm
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Get Help NowThe working man is what built this country, not the captains of industry. From day one we’ve represented the crew members on a boat against the employers. This is where we’re actually accomplished not just for our client, but maybe more for the next guy. It’s our job to make sure you get every cent you’re entitled to under the law, and seamen have the most liberal, beneficial laws on the books out there in the United States. I’m always asked this question about how often you settle, and when do you settle, and why do you settle. Well, it’s always the client’s decision whether to settle or to go to trial. These are blue-collar people. They get hurt, I mean they’re sitting there turning the boats, they’re doing the grunt work. Unless you can empathize with that, you can’t possibly effectively represent them. The big corporation or small company – it’s the same thing. They want to keep their costs as low as possible. Once you get in the court, the littlest guy is equal in standing to the biggest corporation. In court, it’s two persons doing battle, so I don’t care how big the company is, they’re not bigger than you once you get into the court. We do whatever is needed to be done. We believe in a high, high level of service for our clients. We enjoy what we do, we make law all over the United States, and we make money while we’re doing it. That’s why you want to come to us because we love what we do. Do you want a lawyer that looks and thinks like you or do you want mister stuff shirt? We’ve got a reputation that’s not just local but nationwide, and people know who we are and they know what we do so when they’re confronted with a case that appears to have a maritime flavor to it, so to speak, they know who to call.
About the Firm
Vessels Involved
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Get Help NowWhat is a vessel? That is the quintessential question. It takes in every description of watercraft or contravenes that can be used or is capable of being used to transport passengers or cargo by water and it doesn’t have to have its own self-propulsion, it doesn’t even have to be moving at the time. The concept really gets down to would a reasonable person view this watercraft as something that is capable or is it designed as capable of transporting persons or cargo.
Vessels Involved
Compensatory Damages
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Get Help NowI’d like to talk to you about what is known as compensatory damages. Compensatory damages is a broad category that encompasses things such as lost wages, medical expenses, loss of future earning power, as well as the more intangible damages such as pain, suffering, mental anguish, and loss of life’s enjoyment. It really is designed to compensate the victim for his or her loss.
Compensatory Damages
Types of Maritime Injuries
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Get Help NowIn a maritime context injuries can mean a whole host of different things. Of course you’ve got physical traumatic injuries to physical injuries. Emotional type injuries are also compensable and recoverable under general maritime law, as are occupational diseases. So if you’ve had something happen to you while you’ve been in the workplace whether it be a succinct distinct traumatic injury or maybe this is something that you feel has developed over time, doing the same job in a particular manner, or maybe something has happened to you that has left you with an emotional-type injury. You should give us a call because chances are it’s going to be recoverable under the maritime law.
Types of Maritime Injuries
Longshore Act
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Get Help NowI’d like to talk to you a little bit about the Longshore and Harbor Workers Compensation Act. Longshore Act is a federal workers’ compensation statute that covers longshoremen, or folks that load and unload vessels as well as various harbor workers that work in and around maritime ports or harbors. It affords a remedy for an injured worker to receive compensation as well as reasonable and necessary medical benefits, and in some instances also rehabilitation services through the US Department of Labor. If you’ve been injured or suffered an occupational disease while working in these fields, you should give us a call and we’ll help you out.
Longshore Act
Wards of the Court
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Get Help NowSeamen have been considered to be wards of the court for hundreds and hundreds of years. A “ward of the court” is like you’ve heard before, like minors can’t enter into contracts – same thing for seamen. The court treats seamen as though they were babies. Now that’s a good thing! That’s because the court is going to bend over backwards to make sure your rights are respected and enforced. Seamen are ward of the court, and that’s a good thing.
Wards of the Court
Pleasure Boating
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Get Help NowPleasure boating as it applies to admiralty law and maritime law is probably one of the most problematic areas. The reason is that the people that are generally involved are not professionals; they are unknowledgeable about admiralty law, they’re unknowledgeable about what rights you may have should you be injured or suffer damage, or God-forbid a loved one dies as a result of a pleasure vessel accident. It is really important to seek out an expert in maritime or admiralty law to avoid pitfalls in such defenses in special aspects of the maritime law as in the limitation of liability act. So it’s very important that you get the advice in counseling of an expert maritime attorney.
Pleasure Boating
Maintenance and Cure
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Get Help NowMaintenance and cure is the equivalent of workers’ compensation for a crew member. It’s supposed to be a person’s living expenses including his rent, mortgage payment, his lease – or whatever – plus his utilities, plus his food expenses. And “cure” is the medical. A lot of companies try to get away with paying $15 or $20 – even some companies $8 a day. Most lawyers won’t do it because they don’t make any money at it. We’ve done it more times than anybody around the United States: Gone to court to get your maintenance increased.
Maintenance and Cure
Jones Act
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Get Help NowLet’s talk a little bit about the Jones Act. The Jones Act is a federal statute that affords a remedy to crew members, typically seamen working aboard merchant vessels, to recover for personal injury or death. It’s a very liberal and generous statute when it comes to awarding damages to an injured crew member. Any negligence that causes or contributes however slightly to the result in injury and damages is compensable. That’s something we specialize in and you should give us a call if you have been injured in a maritime setting.
Jones Act
Jones Act Seamen
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Get Help NowJones Act seamen take in all manner and walks of professional activities on-board a ship. You could be a barber or a singer, or a waiter on a cruise ship. You can be a construction worker involved in a dredging project. You can even be a crew member on a racing yacht. You could be a musician on a cruise ship, you can be a server on a cruise ship, you can be a surgeon on a transport ship. All of these things are taken in under the umbrella of a Jones Act Seaman. The most important thing is a substantial connection to a vessel or a fleet of vessels in duration and in your responsibilities to do the vessel’s work.
Jones Act Seamen
Safe Place to Work
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Get Help NowThe Jones Act mandates and requires that your employer provide you with a safe place to work. It takes in every facet of the work environment: lighting, deck conditions, directions, time of day, whether you were overly tired – everything’s taken into consideration. And if you’re injured because of the failure to provide a safe place to work, you’ve got a case.
Safe Place to Work
Foreign Voyages
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Get Help NowThere are certain laws that apply only to foreign voyages: For instance, unearned wages. You’re entitled to unearned wages after an injury on a foreign voyage – not a domestic voyage. Also there are certain wage statutes that we represent seamen on whereas you’ve got to be paid off very quickly after you get off the boat otherwise there are severe penalties that apply. In the injury context, it’s basically the same law except for the unearned wage part. In other words if you get off ill or injured on a vessel, you’re entitled to your unearned wages for the remainder of the voyages. You can be working on a ferry boat going across the Mississippi River, or you can be working on a Maersk boat in the South China Sea. Overall injury-wise the laws are basically the same, but there are certain intricacies with regard to foreign voyage and it’s always US law applies to US vessels.
Foreign Voyages
Cruise Ship Workers
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Get Help NowWell I think a lot of people may be surprised to learn that the workers aboard cruise ships are in fact covered by the Jones Act, the same law that covers commercial seamen. And this includes not just the deckhands and mates and captains, but also everyone from the hairdresser aboard the vessel, to the guitar player who plays in the band, to the waiters, the casino dealers – virtually anyone who’s working aboard the ship is covered by the Jones Act. And there are particular hazards associated with working on board a cruise ship – some of them are obvious and some are not so obvious. But certainly things such as slips, trips, and falls – those come to mind. First of all what law covers you and secondly, how your particular working environment, is unique to maritime law.
Cruise Ship Workers
Cruise Ship Passengers
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Get Help NowWhat is it about cruise ship cases? If you’re injured as a passenger on a cruise ship, be well advised that the cruise ship industry has stacked the deck against you with laws in congress that they got passed. You’d better have somebody that knows what they’re doing. They have special statutes of limitations, they have special locations where you can only file suit to make it as inconvenient as possible. You gotta play in their ballpark. When you get in the Federal Court, both parties have equal standing. The littlest guy can go up against the biggest corporation, the biggest corporation is no bigger than a little guy once you’re in court. We stand up too them, we’re not afraid of them, we’ve beaten them. You’ve got to have somebody that knows how to fight these cruise ship cases. They try to get you in their backyard where they’ve got the deck stacked against you. You gotta have someone who knows the law and someone that is going to prosecute the case. Not any Tom, Dick, or Harry lawyer can do a cruise ship case. They’re very intricate, complicated, and involved. We’ve done lots of them successfully, and we can do it for you.
Cruise Ship Passengers
Cruise Ship Location
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Get Help NowCruise ship location at the time you were injured makes no difference as long as the company has a base of operations in the United States. It doesn’t matter where the cruise ship departed from or where it’s going, as long as it’s a company with a base of operations in the United States the case can be brought here.
Cruise Ship Location
Comparative Negligence
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Get Help NowComparative negligence refers to how a fact finder in a maritime law case weighs the relative fault between the injured person and his employer. The focus, obviously, is going to be on the employer’s negligence, but the jury or the judge is also going to have to decide whether or not the injured person was in some way responsible for his or her own injury. The way it works is whatever percentage of fault or blame the judge or jury assigns to the injured worker, that amount is reduced or subtracted from his recovery. So for example if the total damages were $100,000 but the injured person was found to be 10% comparatively negligent, they would recover $90,000.
Comparative Negligence
Comparative Negligence
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Get Help NowI wanted to talk to you a little bit about a concept known as comparative negligence, or comparative fault. Under maritime law a fact finder, whether it be a judge or a jury, not only has to assess to what degree the employer or the negligent party was at fault, but they also have to assess whether or not the victim — himself or herself — was also at fault. The way it works is they assign percentages of blame to each, and at the end of the case if damages are awarded, the amount of the injured victim’s own comparative fault serves to reduce the overall recovery. So as a hypothetical example, if the total damages were $100,00, but yet the jury or fact finder found that the injured person was himself 10% at fault, the ultimate recovery would be reduced to $90,000. That’s why it’s very important, particularly after an accident happens, that you make sure when you’re filling out post-accident injury reports or accident reports that you assign the blame where the blame should lie and hopefully not with yourself.
Comparative Negligence
About Our Practice
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Get Help NowHi, I’m Dennis O’Bryan, I’m the founding member of O’Bryan Baun Karamanian. We’ve been in existence since 1983 and we practice and specialize in maritime law and railroad law. My firm has a footprint – we practice in every major port city of the United States; from New York to Los Angeles to Seattle to New Orleans, and all ports in between.
About Our Practice
Wrongful Death
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Get Help NowWrongful death in the maritime context is always a tragic and devastating circumstance. We deal with the families, we deal with the estates when wrongful death cases come in, and basically it’s a case for a death caused by an unsafe condition. The family or the estate would be entitled to the loss of support, any pain and suffering prior to death, and a host of other factors. The cases are always difficult. It’s always painstaking but we do that with a compassion for the family that they’re entitled to.
Wrongful Death
Jones Act Vessels
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Get Help NowWhat is a vessel? That’s the quintessential question. A vessel is any manner or description of a watercraft where artificial contrivance that can be used or is capable of being used to transport people or cargo by water. It’s got to have the practical implications in design that is capable of being used as a transport of people or passengers or cargo by water. Now, it doesn’t have to be moving at the time, it doesn’t even have to have a means of self-propulsion. It just has to be capable of being used to transport cargo or persons by water.
Jones Act Vessels
Fishing Vessels
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Get Help NowOne thing of particular interest and is critical is fishing vessels are generally what they call uninspected vessels under the Coast Guard. Different areas of water that a fisherman is plying his trade present different obstacles. Up in the Gulf of Alaska, these people have the most treacherous jobs in the world. They face fifty-foot seas, freezing conditions, chunks of ice that could fall on them, and so each person has a different set of circumstances unique to their area of the fishing world that could cause an injury or even death. It’s very common to lose vessels up in the Gulf of Alaska because of the weather. And because it’s such a small group of people and because these vessels are not entirely regulated, the fisherman has to navigate the waters of figuring out who’s responsible and what claims they might have. And each person has a unique set of circumstances that require our expertise to figure out what claim they have.
Fishing Vessels
Unearned Wages
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Get Help NowIf you’re entitled to maintenance and cure on a foreign voyage or a fishing vessel you’re entitled to unearned wages. Unearned wages include the amount you would have earned if you would’ve completed your contract or your articles. Unearned wages include overtime and other fringe benefits. If you’re not receiving your unearned wages or if you’re not receiving the proper amount of your unearned wages, give us a call.
Unearned Wages
Unearned Wages
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Get Help NowUnearned wages are the wages a seaman would’ve earned if he had continued working for the remainder of his articles or employment agreement. Unearned wages can also take the form of a crew share on a fishing vessel, so if you were supposed to be on board the fishing vessel for the entire season, you’re entitled to your full share if you get off the boat injured or ill and are entitled to maintenance and cure. If you’re entitled to maintenance and cure on a fishing vessel or a foreign voyage, you’re entitled to unearned wages. If you’re not getting the full amount of your unearned wages, call us.
Unearned Wages
Unearned Wages
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Get Help NowUnearned wages are a component of maintenance and cure that applies to crew members who are injured or ill on fishing boats and on foreign voyages. If you’re entitled to maintenance and cure on a foreign voyage or on a fishing boat, you’re entitled to unearned wages. Now the unearned wage remedy does not apply in the Great Lakes or on riverboats or in the oil patch, but otherwise you’re entitled to unearned wages.
Unearned Wages
Locomotive Inspection Act
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Get Help NowCertainly the Federal Employers Liability Act is the most well-known statute that covers railroad workers. However, the Locomotive Inspection Act is a very important federal statute that can often help make a case very successful. It essentially mandates that the railroad has an absolute and non-delegable duty to ensure that their locomotives are safe to operate, that they’re properly inspected, and that they can withstand numerous tests that are promulgated by a federal agency. If you suffer an injury while aboard a locomotive due to a defective piece of equipment on the locomotive, or perhaps you have sustained an occupational disease because of fumes coming into the cabin of the locomotive, you would have a separate count in your case against the railroad under the Locomotive Inspection Act. This is a very powerful tool to use in a courtroom because when a jury hears that your employer violated this federal statute, they will impose liability.
Locomotive Inspection Act
Locomotive Inspection Act
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Get Help NowThe Locomotive Inspection Act – what’s that? Well that’s a safety statute that if the company or the railroad violates, and your locomotive is unsafe because it doesn’t follow regulations or there’s an unsafe condition existing on it, then there’s likely liability under the Locomotive Inspection Act. It’s a strict liability statute. In other words, if the railroad violated it, no questions asked, they’re responsible for the injury. There’s a whole host of other regulations governing locomotives that the railroad is automatically responsible if you’re injured as a result of the locomotive being unsafe.
Locomotive Inspection Act
Gulf Coast Workers
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Get Help NowThere are a lot of oil rigs on the Gulf Coast that it’s a whole industry. It’s a big money industry with big companies and big fights. You’ve got the oil rigs, you’ve got the oil platforms, and you’ve got the vessels tendering and servicing those platforms. Crew members are making big money and when they get hurt they’re gonna lose big money. Also on the Gulf Coast you’ve got the Intercoastal Waterway with basic river-type traffic that you’re going to find on the Mississippi River. So you’re going to find typical river-type traffic on the Intercoastal Waterway, and you’re going to find oil rigs and vessels tendering those oil rigs. We represent the workers that are injured in those situations.
Gulf Coast Workers
Great Lakes Workers
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Get Help NowI’ve been working on the Great Lakes since the mid-seventies. The Great Lakes are a specific body of water — all the general maritime laws that apply anywhere else apply here. You get the specific types of vessels and the freighters and the tugboats that go on the Great Lakes. There are some rules that are specific to the Great Lakes with regard to maintenance and cure and unearned wages, but basically if you get hurt on a boat, and the company provided you with an unsafe place to work, there’s a very good chance you’ve got a claim. You give us a call, we’re centrally located here to prosecute your case and we’re ready to go for it.
Great Lakes Workers
Great Lakes Workers
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Get Help NowWe’re sitting here with the Detroit River in the background, one of the busiest waterways in the world. We’ve represented people on the Great Lakes for decades. We’ve made law on the Great Lakes, we’ve practiced law in every port on the Great Lakes, we’ve represented every type of crewman on the Great Lakes – freighters, tug boats, tankers, you name it. If you’re injured or ill on the Great Lakes and you work on a ship, you know who to call.
Great Lakes Workers
Railroad Safety Statues
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Get Help NowThe Federal Safety Appliance Act is another federal statute that is often invoked in a railroad personal injury case. The Federal Safety Appliance Act mandates that certain pieces of equipment associated with the train are in good and proper order. Most notably there are regulations that mandate that railroad cars must be able to couple together without having to have the worker place himself in between the train car. If you’re injured as a result of a Safety Appliance Act violation, you have the benefit of what lawyers refer to as negligence per se, meaning you’ve already shown by the violation that the duty was there in that the railroad breached the duty. It’s therefore a very powerful statute to utilize in connection with your FELA claim when you bring your case against the railroad.
Railroad Safety Statues
Federal Safety Appliance Act
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Get Help NowThe Federal Safety Appliance Act is a separate and distinct statute from the FELA that mandates that various pieces of equipment associated with a locomotive in its train are in good and proper order. If you’re injured as a result of a Safety Appliance Act violation, you have the benefit of what lawyers refer to as negligence per se, meaning you’ve already shown by the violation that the duty was there in that the railroad breached the duty. It’s therefore a very powerful statute to utilize in connection with your FELA claim when you bring your case against the railroad.
Federal Safety Appliance Act
Defense Base Act
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Get Help NowI’d like to talk to you about the Defense Base Act. The Defense Base Act is a federal workers compensation statute that covers civilian contractors who were injured or killed while working overseas in support of the US military. It affords the injured worker with a weekly indemnity payment or compensation check in addition to reasonable necessary medical expenses to cover the treatment that you need to receive following injury. In certain circumstances you are also entitled to rehabilitation services should you be prevented from going back to work that you’ve done in the past. So if you’ve been injured while working abroad, give us a call. We’ve been doing this area of law for quite some time.
Defense Base Act
Defense Base Act
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Get Help NowThe Defense Base Act is a federal workers’ compensation statute that covers civilian contractors who were injured or killed while working overseas in support of the US military. It covers people who may be engaged as linguists, interpreters, cultural advisers, electricians, truck drivers, demolition experts, really the list of occupations is limitless so long as they’re working overseas pursuant to a military contract. The workers who do this type of work are far different than the workers that we have in the United States stateside. They’re essentially embedded with the troops. They’re working on forward operating bases, they’re working in hostile war zones. You know, they’re really embedded with the soldiers and they face the same risks the soldiers face. It’s a very unique area.
Defense Base Act
Bering Sea Fishermen
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Get Help NowI’m here to talk about arguably the most dangerous body of water in the world — that being the Bering Sea and including the Gulf of Alaska. We represent the crabbers — the famous Alaska king crabbers and Weddell crabbers and people of that ilk. And we also represent people that would be working on the factory ships — the factory trawlers, seiners, and also the tender vessels, people from all walks of life up there. It’s a very, very dangerous occupation. People are being paid minimum wage. The fishermen, they’re subject to fishermen’s or crewman’s share, and the conditions are horrific. And if there’s anything that you wanna know, whether you’ve been injured on a vessel or whether it’s just you slipped on deck or you’ve been hit by equipment, the weather plays into it; it could be where the captain of the vessel should have called off operations to prevent the rolling of the vessel and you were injured during that or you weren’t provided with sufficient crew or training. Many times the crew members on these vessels are called upon to work extensive horrible hours and they’re injured just because they’re overworked or they’re asked to work activities that are beyond their physical capability. All that would be taken into areas that we will represent.
Bering Sea Fishermen
Statute of Limitations
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Get Help NowStatutes of limitations are like the keys to the gates of the courtroom. You don’t have the keys, you’re not getting in. Doesn’t matter who you are or what your problem is — you don’t have the keys, you’re not getting in. In a maritime setting, this is a particularly treacherous body of water to navigate without running onto the reef. The reason is that certain statutes of limitation as they apply to a different causes of action can be either three years for unseaworthiness or a Jones Act, but then it is more attenuated if you’re a crew member and you’re injured on a public vessel or a vessel owned or operated by the United States of America, shortens it up to two years. If you happen to be injured on a cruise ship or a fairy ship it’s attenuated even more. One year — you only have one year from the time you were injured to talk to an experienced practitioner and get your claim filed. If you do not do that on time, you’re done.
Statute of Limitations
Settlements
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Get Help NowWhat about settlements? Well, first thing the client decides if he wants to settle. We’ve tried enough cases, we’ve gotten the big money. The shipping companies know we’ll take it all the way, so generally they’re going to offer the best settlement that we can get, but if the settlement is not enough, we go to trial. We’ve been doing this for 30 years, we’ve tried lots and lots of cases, got millions of dollars on settlements and cases in trials, and the companies know that we’re gonna take it all the way, so they better not play games. If they wanna make a settlement, it better be a good one, it better be of the value of the case, or we don’t want it – we’ll go to trial. But the decision whether you wanna settle or not is yours.
Settlements
Settlements
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Get Help NowIn order to get the top buck on settlement, the company has to know that you’re willing to take it all the way. If they think you’re a cream puff or a pushover, they’re not gonna pay. We treat pretty much every case as though it’s going to go to trial and we work it up as though it’s going to go to trial. When it comes time to settle, we’ll talk, but it’s gotta be the right amount.
Settlements
Rivermen
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Get Help NowWhat are rivermen? Generally crew members that work on the Ohio, Mississippi River. You ever heard of the term toothpick or cheater pipe or timberhead? Those are all specific terms to the river work practice. You’ve got to know the business, you’ve got to know what they’re doing. It’s specific; they’re pushing barges, lot of horsepower, lot of weight, lot of danger. These guys get hurt, they get hurt bad. We’ve been representing rivermen for many, many years, and done a lot of good for them.
Rivermen
Retaliatory Discharge
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Get Help NowUnder the general maritime law, it’s often said that an employer can terminate a seaman for good cause, bad cause, or even a morally reprehensible cause. However, there’s been some notable exceptions that the courts have carved out over the years that make it illegal for an employer to terminate a seaman or otherwise discriminate against him for prosecuting a case under the Jones Act. In addition to that, there’s also a federal statute on the books called the Seaman’s Protection Act, which likewise makes it illegal for an employer to terminate or otherwise discriminate against a seaman for his or her good faith reporting to a governmental agency if what they perceive to believe is a safety hazard or a violation that is endangering their safety or the safety of their fellow crew members. If you think that you’ve been the victim of such discrimination, or if you’ve been wrongfully terminated for trying to prosecute your rights under the Jones Act, or for reporting a safety violation, give us a call.
Retaliatory Discharge
Punitive Damages
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Get Help NowLet’s talk a little bit about punitive damages. Punitive damages are different than compensatory damages because they’re not necessarily designed to compensate the victim for his or her losses, but rather, they are to punish or deter the wrongdoer from engaging in similar conduct in the future. The Supreme Court has now held and reaffirmed that punitive damages are recoverable for shipowners’ wrongful, callous, and willful failure to pay maintenance and cure. Additionally the court has left open an option for punitive damages in general maritime law and seaworthiness claims. Obviously punitive damages can result in a significant recovery, so if you were injured and the employer has acted in a willful, callous, and persistent manner, you may be entitled to punitive damages.
Punitive Damages
Punitive Damages
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Get Help NowPunitive damages are a separate and distinct category of damages under the law. Unlike, say, compensatory damages where you’re trying to compensate the victim for things such as past lost wages, unpaid medical bills, and things of that sort — in other words, try to make them whole — punitive damages have a specific purpose and that is to punish the wrongdoer. It also serves as a deterrent for others who might contemplate engaging in similar conduct. Punitive damages require a showing of willful and wanton conduct in most cases and we examine every case to determine whether or not there’s an argument to be made for punitive damages, and if we feel that there is, we pursue it.
Punitive Damages
Pre-Existing Condition
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Get Help NowEmployers often try and trick a guy into saying “Oh, your condition was pre-existing, it’s not our fault.” You know, like if you have pre-existing arthritis or something. The bottom line is you could work until you had an injury and then you were disabled, but it definitely doesn’t disqualify anything. Once you get older you get a little arthritis, you have a pre-existing condition. Other than that, it means nothing.
Pre-Existing Condition
Onshore Injuries
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Get Help NowWell the touchstone of the Jones Act is the employer’s obligation to furnish a safe place to work, and that obligation extends to third party premises and vessels upon which the seaman may be required to work. So it’s not necessary that the injured worker sustained his injury on his employer’s vessel; it’s not even required that they sustain the injury on the vessel at all. If the employer sends the seaman to work onshore at a facility at a terminal or on another vessel, even one not owned by the employer, they still have a duty to ensure that that third party premises is safe.
Onshore Injuries
Oil Rig Workers
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Get Help NowI want to talk about the oil field workers, oil rig workers, oil patch workers. We represent workers from all areas they’re employed whether they be aboard the service vessels, the crew vessels, the supply vessels, or the floating oil rigs themselves. It’s very important that you obtain our expertise to answer important questions. There are different areas of the law that might apply to say “floating oil rigs” as opposed to “fixed oil rigs.” Jones Act would apply to the supply vessels or floating oil rings, or maybe the Longshore or Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act would apply to the fixed rigs or other more land-borne workers that would work in the oil patch.
Oil Rig Workers
Ohio River Workers
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Get Help NowWe’ve represented people on the Ohio River for over two decades. From Pittsburgh down to the junction at Cairo and all points in between — Louisville, Cincinnati, Charleston, Point Pleasant. We know the lingo, we know the work, we know the job, we know what you need, we know tow boats, we know barges, we know everything about it. So if you need a lawyer that knows the maritime law, the federal maritime law, but knows how to apply it on the Ohio River, you know who to call.
Ohio River Workers
Offshore Injuries
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Get Help NowOffshore Injuries
Occupational Disease
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Get Help NowIf a disease is caused by an unsafe condition then the Jones Act applies. There’s a whole bunch of occupational diseases: asbestosis, a lot of people getting sick recently from mold disease from occupational diseases. But occupational diseases are treated just like any other type of injury on a boat. And once you establish that it was caused by an unsafe condition of the ship, of which the employer knew or should have known, you’ve got a Jones Act case and that’s what we do.
Occupational Disease
Mississippi River Workers
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Get Help NowWe represent people who work on the Mississippi River, river workers from Iowa to New Orleans, Greenville, and all ports in between. River works is specific type of work, there’s specific type of nomenclature, you gotta know what’s going on, you gotta know how these people feel, what they mean, what they want. People who work on the Mississippi River are pretty much unique in terms of crew members, and we know the Mississippi River; we’ve been doing it for two decades so if you’re injured or ill on the Mississippi River, you’re not getting what you’re supposed to be getting, give us a call.
Mississippi River Workers
Mississippi River Workers
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Get Help NowWe’ve been working the Mississippi River in terms of cases for over two decades. From Davenport to New Orleans, all ports in between — St. Louis, Memphis. We know the lingo, we know the people, we know what you do, we know what you need, we know what you want, we know how to deal with these shipping companies. So if you need somebody to take care of business on your behalf, you know who to call.
Mississippi River Workers
Mental Injuries
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Get Help NowMental injuries are just as serious, if not more serious in certain circumstances, than physical injuries. Mental injuries refer to injuries that the worker sustains that are not of a physical character but rather would be something along the lines of post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, mental anguish, anxiety, that sort of thing. Generally the way that maritime law handles mental injuries is that the person or victim has to either sustain some form of physical impact or they have to be in what’s known as the zone of danger. In other words you have to be close enough to some traumatic thing that you witness to be affected by it. But the nice thing about it is the law does allow for recovering those types of damages.
Mental Injuries
Maritime Injuries
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Get Help NowMaritime injuries could come at any time and could come from any direction, and some of the injuries are extreme. Unlike the small ropes that are generally used by landside people, our maritime workers are required to work with towing hawsers. These would be used also to moor a vessel to the dock. And if they come under shock load or a load that was improperly exerted they can snap and strike the worker, injuring him — either severing their legs, causing closed head injuries, or something called traumatic brain injury TBI. Generally the worker’s incapacitated and he or a loved one or people that would have his interest at heart should get to a maritime practitioner as soon as possible so that they’ve advised us of their rights — whether it be maintenance & cure, entitlement to medical care, or to maintenance being sustenance while they are off the vessel and to other damages to which they may be entitled disability, pain and suffering and that sort of thing.
Maritime Injuries
Maritime Construction
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Get Help NowIf you have a maritime construction case we look at the facts and decide and help decide what law applies in the circumstance. There’s different legal schemes that can fall under. If you’re working off a vessel or a barge, it might fall under the Jones Act, or else you could fall under the Longshoreman and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act. When we get a maritime construction case, we look at the case, look at the facts, figure out what law applies, and go for it.
Maritime Construction
Maritime Accidents
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Get Help NowThe types of accidents that occur in a maritime setting are virtually limitless. Additionally I like to say that when things go wrong in a maritime setting they usually go very wrong. The type of accidents you might have in a maritime context include slips and falls, you may have injuries caused by broken or defective equipment, you have lines, wires and cables, all of which can snap or break under normal use or from misuse. Of course being on a vessel, you’re always at risk of suffering a vessel collision, or what the law calls allisions, which is essentially the vessel coming into contact with the stationary object. Fires can break out on vessels. For the commercial maritime worker, the vessel is his or her home, and so if something catastrophic happens there’s the potential for serious consequences.
Maritime Accidents
Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act
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Get Help NowThe Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act is a federal workers’ compensation statute that covers longshoremen, harbor workers, people engaged in ship repair, shipbuilding, and anything else that might happen at a marine terminal, peer, dock, etc. It affords the injured worker weekly compensation payments, subject to statutory maximums, as well as reasonable, necessary medical care and treatment. There’s also the availability of vocational rehabilitation services for injured workers should they need it. The Longshore Act differs in many significant material respects from state workers’ compensation laws. That’s why it’s important that you contact a lawyer versed and experienced in longshore work to help you navigate this important federal statute.
Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act
Jet Ski
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Get Help NowOnce we start addressing the problem with jet skis, what we’ve done here is that we’ve taken the question of maritime law and removed it from the professionals, the commercial vessels, and we’ve taken operation of vessels in maritime law to the masses. And most people are not knowledgeable of their rights and their duties under the Maritime Law. Unfortunately the problem is jet skis are operated by people who are inexperienced, both in the operation of vessels, and they’re also usually operated in close proximity to large amounts of people, perhaps at a swimming area and that sort of thing. If you sustain an injury as a result of an operator of a jet ski it’s a critical thing that you are able to contact a knowledgeable maritime attorney to prevent you from succumbing to such defenses as like limitation of liability, where the operator of the jet ski can foreclose your claim or can limit your claim to the value of his jet ski, which if it’s an old jet ski, might be worth only $50. Even though you may be missing two legs, you’re missing an arm, they can limit their exposure to you. What you can recover went by way of damages to $50, and that is why it’s very important that you seek expert maritime counsel, so you can navigate around these defenses and that you’re not deprived of the damages and the claims that you’re entitled to.
Jet Ski
International Workers
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Get Help NowI’d like to talk about those mariners that are employed in international waters. You are still covered by American law if you’re employed aboard a cruise ship, a floating oil rig, a tanker, any type of vessel and if it’s an American flag vessel or an American operated vessel you still have the protection of the Jones Act. Other people that might be injured or have damages occur in international waters. Whether it be on a pleasure vessel, say a sailing yacht, or a passenger on a cruise ship still would be entitled to compensation and to rights and possibilities under American maritime law. And it’s important to obtain an expert maritime attorney to figure out just what area of the law you would be entitled to be compensated under.
International Workers
International Protections
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Get Help NowI’d like to talk a little bit about the protections of American law that would be afforded to people that would be injured or damaged while on a vessel in international waters. Just because you’re injured in international waters beyond the territorial waters of the United States does not mean you’re deprived of the protection of American laws. If you’re a cruise ship passenger you’re still protected, if you’re a worker aboard an American flag vessel or on a floating oil rig, you’re still protected by the Jones Act. You may have rights under the Death on the High Seas Act or under just the General Admiralty Law. You are protected but it takes an expert attorney to navigate these dangerous waters. You’ve got to call us.
International Protections
Hurt on the Job
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Get Help NowIf you’re injured on the job the first thing you have to do is get the necessary medical care. Then after that you have to look out for number one, and number one is you. You’ve got to make sure you receive the necessary assistance to make sure that your legal rights are guarded, because typically the employer or negligent party is not going to be a looking out for you — he is going to be looking out for himself.
Hurt on the Job
Gulf of Mexico Workers
If you’ve been injured or have any questions, contact us today.
Get Help NowThe Gulf of Mexico is a waterway, or a body of water, in which you have a microcosm of just about every type of maritime worker. You have the Intercoastal Waterway, where you have the tow boats and the barges. You have the oil rigs, and the platforms, and the submersibles, and you have the tugs that are servicing those oil rigs. So each category of worker has a different set of rules that apply, and we’ve done them all, we know them all, we’ve been to court on them all — from Houston, to New Orleans, to Mobile. If you have a problem on the Gulf of Mexico, you know who to call.
Gulf of Mexico Workers
Garnished Wages
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Get Help NowThe only way a seaman’s wages can be garnished is for alimony or child support. Every other garnishment is void and your employer is in the wrong if your employer sends your money pursuant to a garnishment to some company. Also, any assignment of your wages is voidable. So if you assign your wages to somebody for something you can void it out at any time. But a garnishment is a court-ordered document and if your wages are garnished, it’s probably wrongful. Let us know, we’ll straighten it out.
Garnished Wages
Federal Employers Liability Act
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Get Help NowThe Federal Employers Liability Act was what congress enacted in response to what it perceived as a tremendous number of injuries being sustained by railroad workers who at the time, at the dawn the 20th century, really didn’t have any protection available to them. It is a broad remedial statute that affords an injured worker a right to sue the employer in court for damages if they should sustain an injury, or God forbid, suffer death while working on the job. It’s very liberal, it mandates that the employer furnish the employee with a safe place to work and any negligence that causes or contributes, however slightly, to the worker’s injury and resultant damages is compensable.
Federal Employers Liability Act
Favored Status
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Get Help NowJones Act Seamen, in particular, are what the courts have termed: Wards of the Admiralty Court. What that means is that the courts are duty-bound to jealously protect the rights of seamen — particularly injured seamen. It also applies to how certain state-based affirmative defenses that might otherwise be available to a land-based employer are not available in a maritime context for an injured seaman. So fortunately for injured crewmen and seamen, the United States Supreme Court said long ago that admiralty courts need to jealously protect the rights of seamen — particularly when it comes to dealing with their injury cases. You often see that concept invoked when there is a question concerning the enforceability and validity of the release that may have been negotiated by the employer relative to the seaman. So fortunately for an injured crew member or Jones Act seaman, they are treated as favored workers and wards of the admiralty court.
Favored Status
Ferry Boat
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Get Help NowFerry boat accidents are particularly interesting and particularly complex because in a maritime setting you have an interface where you have passengers interacting in very close proximity with maritime workers — the crew members. You can have an issue where a vehicle is being loaded onto a car ferry and all of a sudden runs over a worker — it can run over a passenger. Now, in those types of situations; for the crew member you’ve got an unseaworthiness claim, you’ve got a Jones Act claim, negligence. Were the procedures used for embarking the cars and the transports while the crew members were working in proximity — were they competent work procedures? For the passengers, passengers are owed a duty of reasonable care to transport them from point A to point B. The passenger has a right to a safe passage aboard the ferry boat. The worker has a right to a safe workplace aboard the ferry boat: a seaworthy vessel. And each person, if they sustain injury or damage as a result of the actions of the vessel owner or the vessel operator, has a right to seek maritime counsel and apply for the the appropriate claims under the circumstances. So unless you are in touch with a maritime expert directly, you could be foreclosed for bringing your claim.
Ferry Boat
Employment at Will
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Get Help NowMost maritime employment is what we would call employment at will. And what that means is that a maritime worker can be fired for just cause, no cause, even a morally reprehensible cause. However, the courts have determined that what is not acceptable is for an employer or shipowner to terminate someone in retaliation for that person filing a Jones Act suit, for example. In that circumstance, the person who has been wrongfully terminated can bring a suit against the shipowner and employer for damages, which can include their back pay, reinstatement to their former position, compensatory damages, etc. In addition to that, judge made cause of action there’s also a federal statute called the Seaman’s Protection Act, which prohibits an employer or ship owner from discriminating against or terminating a seaman or an employee for his good faith report to the Coast Guard, or any other federal agency for that matter, of the violation of the maritime statute rule or regulation. That same law also protects the worker should they report an injury to themselves or to a fellow crew member. It reports or covers them if they are to give testimony in support of someone else’s case. All those things afford the worker cause of action if they’re discriminated against or retaliated against. And you have the same measure of damages with the added bonus of even getting punitive damages if the facts and circumstances warrant.
Employment at Will
Dredge Worker
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Get Help NowDredging is a very unique area of marine construction, generally engaged in replenishment or renourishment of beaches or the maintenance of shipping channels. The dredge worker, even though he is engaged in employment aboard ships or derrick barges, usually what they call a fleet or a tendon fleet of vessels, is entitled to all the rights that any other maritime worker, crew member of a vessel be entitled to, including the Jones Act. And the duty of the vessel owner, in this case the dredge owner, to provide a seaworthy vessel.
Dredge Worker
Diving Accidents
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Get Help NowDivers form a big part of our practice. Divers are involved in oil rig work, divers are involved in water intakes for municipalities, divers are involved in underwater construction, and there are certain injuries that are specific to divers: for instance decompression sickness. A diver, especially if he’s assigned off a boat or working off a boat, is generally covered by the Jones Act and has all the rights and entitlements that a crew member aboard that boat would have.
Diving Accidents
Compensation
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Get Help NowCompensation is the amount that it’s going to take to make you whole after an injury or a loss, and that amount is defined by law that depends on the context in which you were hurt. If you’re hurt on a vessel or hurt on a train, if it’s a train worker, you’re entitled to damages to be determined in court. If it’s workers’ comp, it’s to defined amounts per week. Different contexts, different damages, we know the difference — give us a call.
Compensation
Atlantic Ocean Workers
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Get Help NowLet’s ship out of New York, let’s ship out of Jacksonville, how about Savannah, how about Charleston? Whatever. We represent people that are injured or ill on vessels that are traveling the Atlantic Ocean on foreign voyages typically. Of course we all also represent the people that work in the harbors, on the tug boats, and the tow boats. We’ve been doing it for years; just had a landmark case against Maersk — the largest shipping company, where as a class action we got the overtime unearned wages for crew members on Maersk vessels that were being deprived for years. We changed the law, and if necessary we can change the law for you.
Atlantic Ocean Workers
Assault
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Get Help NowWhen crew members are cooped up on a boat for long periods of time, tempers are going to flare. You know, disagreements and bickering is common. But when it turns into a vicious assault, that’s where we come into play. When someone is actually hurt because of another crew member going nuts, there are certain laws that apply. If a weapon was used, nine times out of ten the employer’s responsible. Just because you get in a fight on a boat doesn’t mean that you have a case. There’s a lot of factors that have to be looked into. So basically crew members on boats — whether they’re fishing boats, riverboats, freighters, Great Lakes, foreign voyages — there’s a common denominator in all of them: basically they’re good-hearted guys that like to see the sunnier side of life.
Assault
Our Areas of Practice
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Get Help NowWe’re pretty much a multifaceted law firm. We practice a type of law that applies to maritime workers — whether on shore or on a vessel. We practice with regard to railroad workers who are injured on the job and we also do Defense Base Act work, which has to do with civilian translators and such on military bases throughout the world, to which the Longshore Act is applied.
Our Areas of Practice
Maritime Law
If you’ve been injured or have any questions, contact us today.
Get Help NowAdmiralty law, or general maritime law, is basically the oldest body of law still in practice in the world today. It’s applied in the United States in many contexts for anything that happens on the water; whether it be the oceans, whether it be a navigable river, such as the Mississippi or Columbia or Ohio River, or a navigable lake like the Great Lakes. Admiralty law is a specialized area of law and we practice it and we know all the rules.
Maritime Law
Pacific Ocean Workers
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Get Help NowYou’re going to get a wide array of maritime workers on the Pacific Ocean. Of course you’re going to have container ships and freighters going back and forth to Asia on the Pacific Ocean, and you’re also going to have dredging activities, you’re going to have tugboats in the ports, be it Long Beach or Portland, or Seattle or San Francisco. And you’re going to have a lot of fishing boats in the Pacific Ocean, up in the Bering Sea, and Los Angeles, Long Beach, San Diego, San Francisco, Portland, Seattle, you’re gonna find dredging activities making the ports deeper, and so on the Pacific Ocean you’re gonna find a wide array of maritime workers that we represent.
Pacific Ocean Workers
