What are the maritime claims?
Maritime claims are claims arising out of maritime transactions or activities, such as shipping, navigation, or transportation of goods by sea. These claims may include damage to or loss of cargo, personal injury or death, damage to ships or other maritime property, salvage, or towage.
What Can I Collect From a Maritime Injury Claim?
Maritime injury claims come with the possibility of multiple different types of compensation. A few of these can include:
Current and future lost wages
Current and future medical bills
Health complications
Mental anguish
Long-term care costs
Disfigurement or disability
Loss of earning capacity
Counseling or therapy
Vocational rehabilitation
Pain and suffering
Living expenses
Wrongful death compensation
What is maritime general average claims?
Facing huge losses, the ship’s owners declared general average. General average is a centuries-old principle of maritime law that allows a vessel owner to force cargo owners to share the financial loss to a ship or that were caused by a ship.
Compensation Can I Recover In A Maritime Lawsuit
Workers in the maritime industry who have been injured due to human error or unsafe working conditions may seek compensation under the Jones Act and other maritime laws for their accident-related damages. In this article, we’re going to examine the types of compensation available in maritime lawsuits, how much you can recover for your injuries, factors that can impact your final settlement amount, and more.
HOUSTON MARITIME ATTORNEY
Offshore injuries are both common and devastating. When you or a loved one has been injured offshore, it’s important for you to know what your rights are and what you are entitled to receive as compensation. When you work with Reich & Binstock, you can rest assured that you’ll be working with a maritime injury lawyer with over 30 years of experience. That automatically ensures that you’ll have a leg up in court, as almost nothing is more important than experience in a courtroom. Contact a Houston maritime attorney as soon as possible for your claim.
When an offshore injury has occurred, it is important to understand what types of compensation you may be entitled to. Offshore injuries are governed by complex and complicated state and federal laws, which govern the type of compensation you may receive. For this reason, an experienced maritime injury lawyer such as those at Reich & Binstock will help you tremendously with your case. For a free consultation, please call 713-622-7271 or fill out our online intake form.
A Brief History of Maritime and Admiralty Law
Maritime law and admiralty law are two terms that can be used interchangeably. Importantly, maritime law (also called admiralty law) is what governs offshore accidents. Maritime workers have almost always adhered to certain specific laws that govern their industry. Although much of general maritime law in the United States comes from the Constitution, there are other sources for these regulations as well. Below, we list some of the most important laws, statutes, and regulations that are crucial when it comes to maritime injury cases.
What Is Maintenance and Cure in Maritime Law?
Two important factors in Jones Law cases are maintenance and cure. Maintenance is the compensation that your employer must provide to you while you recover from an illness or injury. The intent behind maintenance is to provide compensation for a recovering worker’s cost of living on land. However, many maritime employers try to keep these payments to a minimum. Working with experienced maritime attorneys can potentially give you a better chance at a higher maintenance payment in your case.
Cure is the medical care that your employer must provide to you after you suffer a work-related injury. It basically compensates for the treatments necessary for your recovery. While many employers don’t want you to know this, offshore workers have the right to choose their own doctor under maintenance and cure.
One crucial question remains. How long do maintenance and cure benefits last? Generally, maritime and harbor construction workers can receive these benefits until they reach maximum medical improvement (MMI). MMI is the point when your injury, illness, or condition will no longer improve. Once you reach maximum medical improvement, your employer is no longer obligated to pay for further medical bills and treatments. We highly recommend speaking with trained maritime lawyers for your case. We will ensure that all your legal rights and benefits are protected.
When Does Maritime Law Actually Apply?
It’s important to understand which offshore accident cases actually fall under the jurisdiction of maritime law. In the United States, maritime law applies in any case that arises on “navigable waters.” Navigable waters are those used for commerce, trade, or travel between multiple states or foreign countries. Any body of water that is fully contained within a single state, such as a lake, is not subject to federal maritime law.
Maritime law covers a wide array of maritime accident cases. Examples include cases involving offshore oil rigs, shipping disasters, underwater welding accidents, and other injury cases. It can even come into play in cases of piracy, contract disputes, and even marine insurance issues. Because of the countless case types that fall under maritime law, you need experienced offshore injury lawyers on your side.
What Exactly Is a Maritime Lawyer?
Maritime attorneys are one of many types of personal injury lawyers. They handle maritime injury cases, boating accident cases, and even commercial maritime cases. At our Houston law office, Reich & Binstock is passionate about protecting the rights of injured maritime workers. If you’re having trouble securing compensation from your employer or an insurance company, our maritime lawyers are here for you.
We will examine the facts of your case during your free consultation, apply federal law to your claim, and outline your legal rights. It’s important for injured workers to have qualified legal representation in any personal injury case. This is especially true in more complex practice areas, such as maritime law. Contact a Houston maritime injury lawyer with Reich & Binstock to connect with a compassionate, aggressive trial lawyer for your case.
What Kinds of Accidents Need a Houston Maritime Lawyer?
As we stated previously, many different case types fall under the jurisdiction of maritime law. Our Houston maritime attorneys have handled many maritime cases, such as the following.
Cruise ship accidents
Cargo ship accidents
Commercial boating and fishing accidents
Wrongful death cases
Oil and gas worker injuries
Shipyard accidents
Workers falling overboard
Jack-up rig accidents
Deckhand injuries
Dredge accidents
Many of the cases handled by maritime lawyers involve devastating and catastrophic injuries. For example, if two large ships collide, the damage can be highly detrimental to both shipping companies and their vulnerable employees. Because of the high levels of damage, it’s important for victims to work with an experienced maritime lawyer from the very beginning of their case to the very end.
What Is a Maritime Injury?
In order to better understand maritime injuries and the laws surrounding them, we’ll first cover the Jones Act. This statute outlines and regulates a majority of U.S. domestic shipping.
Basically, it requires goods that are shipped between U.S. ports to be transported on vessels that are built, owned, and operated by U.S. citizens or permanent residents. The Jones Act is a small yet very important section of the 1920 Merchant Marine Act. Importantly, the Jones Act not only outlines maritime commerce regulations but also provides sailors and maritime workers with certain protections. These protections include the ability to seek damages for injuries from crews, captains, or ship owners.
What Are the Most Common Causes of Maritime Injuries?
Due to the wide net of jurisdiction cast by maritime law, there are many different causes of maritime accidents and injuries. Many law firms already understand that maritime jobs tend to be inherently dangerous. However, that doesn’t mean that maritime employees aren’t owed a certain duty of care by their employers and fellow employees. Even though certain offshore accidents are unavoidable, others only occur as a result of gross negligence. Below, we list some of the most common causes of maritime accidents.
Unavoidable and extreme weather conditions
Long working hours and a lack of sleep
Drug or alcohol abuse
Other forms of reckless or negligent behavior
Inadequate training or severe inexperience
Stressful job duties and poor decision making
Fires and explosions
Improperly secured cargo shifting while traveling
Slip and fall accidents
Colliding with the shore or with other vessels
Catastrophic Maritime Injuries in Texas
Due to the nature of maritime jobs, the possibility of catastrophic injuries is very high. In fact, the range and type of possible injuries for seamen are very broad. Below, we list some of the most common maritime injuries we see at Reich & Binstock in Houston:
Neck or back strains from lifting heavy objects and equipment
Toxic chemical exposure from cargo, solvents, or lead paint
Falling object/equipment head injuries
Paralysis or amputation due to malfunctioning equipment
Slip and fall injuries on poorly lit or wet decks
Diver injuries such as decompression
Burns or electrocutions
Medical malpractice harm from a ship’s medical crew treating injured workers
Drowning wrongful deaths due to poor rescue techniques