When a seaman is hurt at sea, the employer owes a daily living allowance called maintenance until the seaman recovers. The amount sounds simple, but employers routinely pay far less than the law requires. Here is how the maintenance rate is actually set, and how to challenge a lowball figure. In short: There is no…
The most dangerous commercial fishing jobs are not spread evenly across the industry; some regions, fisheries, and tasks kill far more workers than others. Here is what the federal data shows about which fishing work is deadliest, and what the law does for fishermen who are hurt or killed. In short: The most dangerous commercial…
If you were hurt at sea and the bills are piling up, the first question is usually this: how long does a Jones Act case take? Here is an honest answer, stage by stage, and the one medical milestone that controls the whole timeline. In short: Most Jones Act cases resolve in roughly 1 to…
If you were hurt doing maritime work but you are not a ship’s crew member, the law that most likely covers you is the Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act. Whether it applies turns on two questions: what you do, and where you were hurt. In short: LHWCA coverage requires passing two tests at once….
Losing a family member in an accident far out at sea is devastating, and the law that governs that loss is often harsher and narrower than families expect. Here, in plain terms, is how the Death on the High Seas Act works and what it means for your family. In short: The Death on the…
One word can decide whether an injured maritime worker has powerful rights or almost none, and that word is “vessel.” Here is exactly how the term vessel under maritime law is defined and why that definition controls so much of an offshore injury case. In short: Under maritime law, a vessel is any watercraft or…
An injured cruise ship crew member faces a question most injured workers never do: not just how much the claim is worth, but whether it will be decided by a U.S. jury or by a private arbitrator in another country applying another nation’s law. That fork in the road, set by a clause buried in…
If you were hurt working as a civilian contractor overseas, the Defense Base Act is the law that pays you, and the question you most want answered is what your claim is worth. The honest answer is that there is no single number, but the ranges, the benefit formula, and the factors that move a…
When a family asks what a maritime wrongful death case is worth, the honest first answer is a question: where did the death happen, and was the worker a seaman? Those two facts decide which law applies, and the law decides what the case can pay, often before any number is negotiated. In short: Maritime…
If you were hurt working on an offshore oil or gas platform, the single most important question is not how badly you were injured. It is which law covers you, because that one answer decides whether you are a Jones Act seaman, a Longshore Act claimant, or someone borrowing the law of the nearest state….
