The strict-liability general maritime law doctrine that a vessel and its appurtenances must be reasonably fit for their intended purpose.
Offshore wind is one of the fastest-growing high-risk workplaces in the country, and the law that protects the people building and maintaining it has not fully caught up. For an injured wind worker, that uncertainty is not academic; it decides what your claim is worth. In short: Which law governs an offshore wind injury depends…
If you load ships, repair hulls, or build vessels for a living and you get hurt on the job, you may assume state workers’ compensation will cover you. For many waterfront workers, that assumption is wrong, and the difference can be thousands of dollars a month. In short: Whether the LHWCA or state workers’ comp…
Losing a family member to a maritime accident is devastating, and the legal questions that follow can feel overwhelming at the worst possible time. One of the first is also one of the most practical: who in the family is actually allowed to bring a claim? In short: A maritime wrongful death claim is filed…
When an offshore oil rig accident leaves a worker badly hurt, the company that signs the paychecks is rarely the only one at fault. Offshore operations stack employers, operators, and contractors on a single deck, and any of them can share the blame. In short: Liability for an offshore oil rig accident often falls on…
The decisions you make in the first three days after an offshore injury can shape your health, your benefits, and the entire strength of your claim. While you focus on getting treatment, your employer’s insurer is already building its file. In short: If you are injured offshore, do six things fast: get medical care, report…
After a serious offshore injury, the question that keeps you up at night is simple: what is my case actually worth? The honest answer is that no two Jones Act claims are alike, and the figures you see online hide more than they reveal. In short: There is no reliable single “average” Jones Act settlement,…
If you were hurt working on or around the water, one word decides almost everything about your case: whether the law counts you as a seaman. That single classification controls which statute protects you, who you can hold responsible, and how much your claim is worth. In short: You are a Jones Act seaman if…
Commercial fishing is the deadliest civilian occupation in the United States. NIOSH data shows that fishermen die on the job at roughly 29 to 40 times the rate of the average U.S. worker. If you have been hurt on a fishing vessel, or you have lost a family member at sea, here is how the…
Cruise ship crew members come from across the world, Philippines, Indonesia, India, Eastern Europe, Latin America, the Caribbean, and beyond, and work long contracts on foreign-flag vessels that sail in and out of U.S. ports. If you have been hurt working as cruise ship crew, your employment contract probably contains an arbitration clause that points…
U.S. offshore wind is a newer industry, with the first commercial-scale projects coming online over the last several years and many more in active construction along the East Coast. The legal framework that protects workers in this industry was largely written for older offshore work, oil and gas, longshore, fishing, and the wind industry does…
