The strict-liability general maritime law doctrine that a vessel and its appurtenances must be reasonably fit for their intended purpose.
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 oil rig accident happens, the company that signs your paychecks is rarely the only party at fault, and sometimes it is not the one you can recover the most from. Offshore operations run on a web of operators, contractors, and equipment makers, and figuring out which of them is liable is the difference…
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…
If you are searching for the average Jones Act settlement, you have probably found numbers that disagree wildly, from a few hundred thousand dollars to eight figures. Both can be true, and that is exactly why an “average” is the wrong number to anchor to. What follows is the real reported data, by injury type,…
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…
If you were hurt on a rig or platform, the law that protects you depends on your job and where you worked. Here is how to find out where you stand. In short: Which law covers an offshore oil and gas injury depends on your job. Workers with a substantial connection to a vessel (a…
If you were injured working at sea, the Jones Act may give you far stronger rights than ordinary workers’ compensation. Here is exactly where you stand. In short: The Jones Act (46 U.S.C. § 30104) is a federal law that lets an injured seaman sue their employer for negligence and demand a jury trial. It…
