Maritime Injury Compensation

Are you in Corpus Christi? Were you injured in a Marine or Maritime accident? Give Carabin Shaw a call. We can help. Call us at 800-862-1260

If you have gotten injured seriously while working on a vessel at or near the sea, maritime law and the Jones Act can be of help to you recovering by getting you medical payments (maintenance) and money from lost time at work (cure), in addition to recovery for your pain and suffering, your physical impairment, and any mental anguish you have suffered. Carabin Shaw has successfully represented many injured clients under the Jones Act and we can help you.

Seamen and sailors are generally seen as the working lifeblood of any ship or vessel, with job descriptions making up a wide variety of tasks. Because of their demanding type of work, their injury potential is significant. Their injuries may range between bruise, abrasions, minor lacerations, and even major and possibly life-threatening injuries.

Unlike most other kinds of workers, seamen injured while working are not entitled to collect worker’s compensation against their employers according to state and federal law. The Jones Act is, however, available to help sailors who get injured while working.

There are several kinds of accidents that can happen in navigable waters or at sea. The various kinds of accidents can include:

• Getting injured in a dredging accident
• Having an Accident while Commercial Fishing
• Getting in Ferry or Pleasure Boats Accident
• Being injured in Barge or Tugboat Accident
• Being a Blue Water Seaman and Getting in an Accident

In addition, please give us a call to find out more about “maintenance and cure”, the “Limitation of Liability Act”, and other kinds of unseaworthiness claims and accidents:

• For Maintenance and Cure
• Under The Limitation of Liability Act
• Other, more general, Unseaworthiness Claims and Accidents

The “Merchant Marine Act of 1920”, more generally referred to the Jones Act, is a U.S. statute, a law, which provides for both the preservation and promotion of the United States merchant marine. It sets out the legal rights of seamen who get either killed or injured while working in the course of marine service.

Parts of the Jones Act establish specific protections for seamen, setting up a system of monetary and medical benefits for those who have died or are injured as a result of negligence of the part of the vessel’s crewmembers, the captain or even the owner while they in the course of their work on the vessel.

An employer may be found liable for a seamen’s death or injury if they didn’t keep and maintain the vessel or the workplace or vessel in a safe condition, in addition to providing a sufficiently secure workplace for their employees. For an injured seaman to sue for his or her damages under the provisions of the Jones Act, he or she must prove that the employer or a fellow seaman was negligent on the same ship or vessel which created the hazardous or dangerous condition which led to the injury.

Like in other claims for personal injury, the injured seaman is entitled to get both non-economic economic damages for both future and past medical expenses, mental anguish, pain and suffering and lost wages. The injured seaman also has the legal right to a jury trial. Sailors have up to three years to file lawsuits which relate to injury claims.

Are you in Corpus Christi? Were you injured in a Marine or Maritime accident? Give Carabin Shaw a call. We can help. Call us at 800-862-1260