Seaman sues employer over injuries on board ship docked in Galveston 4/16/2009 11:30 AM By John Suayan, Galveston Bureau GALVESTON - A seaman from Sugar Land is suing two maritime companies for multiple injuries he allegedly sustained while his ship was docked in Galveston three months ago.In a lawsuit filed in Galveston County District Court...

Read More >>

A Klein ISD school bus was involved in a four-vehicle, head-on collision this morning on Boudreax near Willow Downs.  Officials said the bus was carrying 10 students to the Klein ISD Annex building when it was hit head-on by a car.  This head-on collision caused a second vehicle to then strike the first car, and a third vehicle that swerved to a...

Read More >>

A 27 year-old recreational diver went missing Sunday, July 24, 2011, off the coast of Nantucket, Massachusetts.  The diver was part of a group aboard the dive charter vessel John Jack.  The dive group was exploring the wreckage of the Andrea Doria.   The Andrea Doria lies in about 200 feet of water.  It is an Italian luxury vessel which sank a...

Read More >>

Divers searching the Costa Concordia discovered another body Tuesday, bringing the death toll to 16 in the Italian cruise ship disaster. At least six of the recovered bodies have yet to be identified, but are presumed to include some of the 17 people still unaccounted for. The luxury liner ran aground and capsized Jan. 13 just off the tiny isla...

Read More >>

24-year-old Benjamin Gillock went overboard from a crab fishing boat, Bellingham-based crab boat the Vicious Fisher, Sunday off of the Washington State Coast.  The search for Gillock was suspended after more than seven hours of searching the ocean.Gillock was not wearing a life jacket, Coast Guard rescuers were told. Although the case is officia...

Read More >>

The following was published in the The Ukrainian Weekly Dear Editor: Thanks from Ukraine for the help and support provided by The Ukrainian Weekly readers during a desperate situation of this past summer. On September 20, the stranded group of Ukrainian sailors from the 650-foot cargo ship Epta left Houston and returned to Ukraine. They were...

Read More >>

This week, a Texas state judge issued a temporary court order barring the Texas Department of Insurance from posting documents relating to State Farm's two recent rate increases for homeowners insurance. State District Judge Stephen Yelenosky granted State Farm's requested injunction in part because the court felt posting these items would harm...

Read More >>

The Coast Guard has issued a captain of the port order Monday to the fishing vessel ESS PURSUIT to return to port after two of their crewmembers were taken to a local hospital and treated for symptoms of exposure to a hazardous/chemical substance.  The F/V ESS PURSUIT notified local EMS that two crewmembers were experiencing symptoms of blisteri...

Read More >>

The body of a shrimper, who disappeared after a maritime accident in Cocodrie, Louisiana has now been found. The accident occurred last week when a 25-foot shrimp boat collided with a aluminum hull vessel.  According to authorities, the accident occurred near the Houma Navigation Canal and Bayou Little Caillou. A seventy-three man on the shrimp...

Read More >>

Matt Shaffer has filed two new Jones Act lawsuits, one in Harris County, Texas and one in Galveston County, Texas.In the Galveston County lawsuit, Mr. Shaffer has sued Reservoir Exploration Technology, Inc. and Gulfmark Americas, Inc. for back, right knee, and shoulder injuries sustained by a seaman on January 11, 2009.In the Harris County lawsu...

Read More >>

Four construction workers are hospitalized with serious injuries after a second-floor ceiling fell at a county justice center construction site in downtown San Antonio on Friday morning.  About 144 construction workers were at the expansion site in the 300 block of Dolorosa when the roof caved in at about 9:15 a.m.  Three workers were buried in...

Read More >>

A pipeline fire was finally extinguished after burning in a Louisiana bayou since Tuesday, the U.S. Coast Guard said Friday. One man was critically burned and three others received minor injuries in the blaze, which began when a tug pushing a barge struck the gas pipeline. While the fire was out, the Coast Guard said minimal flaring was continu...

Read More >>

Three workers were injured Friday morning by steel beams that collapsed in the Santa Fe High School auditorium that was under construction in the 16000 block of state Highway 6.  The school district is building an auditorium on the high school campus. The construction was in its beginning phases. A crane at the site was used to lift a 12-foot l...

Read More >>

A California man is the sole confirmed fatality in a deadly fishing boat accident off Baja California.  At least seven people are still missing.   The missing tourists were part of a fishing expedition in Mexico, when their vessel overturned in the early hours of Saturday morning.  The Mexican Navy and the US Coast Guard are continuing efforts t...

Read More >>

Somali pirates carried out a record number of attacks and hijackings in 2009, despite the deployment of international warships a UN Security Council resolution.  So far this week, Somali pirates seized a ship carrying fertilizer from the U.S. in the Indian Ocean and a British-flagged chemical tanker in the heavily patrolled Gulf of Aden. As we ...

Read More >>

In 2008, the number of work-related injuries, illnesses and deaths in Louisiana dropped, in some cases to the lowest level in seven years, according to the Louisiana Workforce Commission (LWC). The rate of work-related injuries and illnesses in Louisiana is at the lowest level since OSHA revised its recordkeeping rules in 2002. Even though the...

Read More >>

Ray LaHood, US Transportation Secretary has made nationwide effort to publicize the need to reduce distracted driving. Today, the Department of Transportation released sample legislation for state legislators to use in crafting their legislation to ban texting while driving. There are 31 states that have not yet banned texting while driving.  ...

Read More >>

Emergency crews shut down a section of Wade Road near I-10 in Baytown due to a train derailment. Eight freight train cars have derailed and one of the cars contains sulfuric acid.  No leaks have been found so far in the investigation and inspection.  The cause of the derailment is under investigation.A derailment is a railway accident that occu...

Read More >>

Panel members of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals will hear the Justice Department's appeal today concerning their attempts to delay U.S. District Judge Martin Feldman's decision last month to overturn a six-month deepwater drilling moratorium.  Despite Judge Feldman's striking down of Obama's deepwater drilling moratorium for its failure to p...

Read More >>

The cruise ship Boudicca run by a Suffolk company confined its passengers to their cabins during a recent norovirus outbreak. So far, 13 passengers are currently keeping to their rooms on board Boudicca after becoming ill on their Mediterranean cruise.  Up to 30 people have experienced symptoms on the three-week trip according to the cruise lin...

Read More >>

Four crewmembers from Sabine Parish are among those who were on the drilling rig that exploded in the Gulf of Mexico Tuesday night.  Authorities have not identified the men from Sabine Parish or confirmed if they are among the missing.  Efforts to reach their families on Wednesday were unsuccessful. The search continues off the coast of Louisia...

Read More >>

Harley-Davidson, Inc. recalled 111,569 motorcycles manufactured from June 6, 2008, through Nov. 19, 2009, because of a threat of gasoline leaking in a frontal collision. The recall affects some of Harley's very expensive 2009 and 2010 touring bikes according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. NHTSA noted that the motorcycle...

Read More >>

Matt Shaffer was named one of the top Lawyers for the People by H Texas Magazine, and featured in their March, 2005 issue. Read more at the HTexas.com site here.

Read More >>

Ever since the Deepwater Horizon explosion in the Gulf of Mexico, maritime law attorneys have found Transocean and BP battling over liability and damages. A judge has ruled that Transocean, the owner of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig, does not have to pay any compensatory damages arising out of the marine pollution that resulted after the disaste...

Read More >>

Two workers on the tanker MT Hercules, identified as Sylvester Keterim, 24,and Shezi Chang Shiah Joo, 22, both from Sabah, were killed onboard the vessel in a fire Tuesday night. These two workers were doing welding work on one of the oil tanks in the tanker when it suddenly exploded.  The rescue team sent out in the area overcame the flames wi...

Read More >>

A spring break enforcement effort involving a 10-day crackdown on drunken driving in Sugar Land led to more than a dozen arrests.  The Sugar Land Police Department dedicated officers to catching drunken drivers in targeted areas, and arrested 13 suspects between March 12 and 21.  An Impaired Driving Mobilization Grant of $7,996 funded overtime ...

Read More >>

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement has laid much of the blame for the Gulf of Mexico oil explosion last year on BP. However, Transocean, the owner of the rig, and Halliburton, which did much of the cementing work on the vessel, have not been spared blame either. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation an...

Read More >>

Cameron International Corporation the second-largest United States maker of oilfield equipment, provided the blowout preventer for the Transocean Ltd. rig in the Gulf of Mexico that caught fire and sank last week. Cameron's gear has been used on the Deepwater Horizon rig, which was built in 2001 to operate in seas as deep as 8,000 feet, since t...

Read More >>

The Coast Guard was searching for a missing crewmember on the Kanawha River after a 67-foot towing vessel sank Monday near Winfield, West Virginia.  Two crewmembers were aboard the towing vessel Misty Dawn when the vessel sank near the edge of the navigational channel around mile 37 of the Kanawha River.  One crewmember safely swam to shore. The...

Read More >>

SMSH Partner Matt Shaffer settled the case of a Jones Act Deckhand with an unoperated back for a total of $409,000.  $32,000 was set aside for future medical treatment and our client was guaranteed disability payments of $27,000.  Our client took home $200,500 cash.

Read More >>

Chevron Corp. officials said 2 workers were missing after a rig off Nigeria’s coast caught fire Monday. The company said that 152 workers had been found, but officials were still accounting for all those working on the offshore rig, which was exploring possible deep-water oil and gas fields. The cause of the fire was still under investigation,...

Read More >>

For 40 days, flares burned 500,000 pounds of toxic chemicals over BP's Texas City refinery. Yet residents didn't know until weeks later that the flare released 17,000 pounds of cancer-causing benzene. The reason: State law required BP to report the unauthorized release of chemicals only twice - once when the incident began and once two weeks af...

Read More >>

SMSH Partner Matthew Shaffer was quoted in an article on Law.com concerning the Deepwater Horizon offshore oil rig explosion, subsequent massive oil spill and related federal laws which address the damages available to injured parties."A number of politicians have set their sights on the Death on the High Seas Act and the Jones Act, passed in 19...

Read More >>

Sajan Timal Shina, a 25-year-old Spring, Texas man, has been formally charged with three counts of intoxication manslaughter in the deaths of three teens over the weekend. Shina could face 60 years in prison if convicted of all three second-degree felonies. RaShaunda Raleigh, 17, and Avianca Cortez, 13, died after the Ford Excursion in which t...

Read More >>

A wrongful death lawsuit seeking at least $7 million has been filed against the estate of Houston attorney John O'Quinn by the family of Johnny Lee Cutliff, O'Quinn's employee who died with him in a car crash. Investigation into the October 2009 Houston, Texas car crash that killed both O'Quinn and Cutliff has shown that O'Quinn was driving bet...

Read More >>

Ambassador Arthur Schechter, founding partner of Schechter, McElwee, Shaffer & Harris, LLP, was invited to attend the exclusive Holiday Reception at the White House along with an intimate group of only around 300 people.  The event was highlighted by a buffet dinner with President Obama and First Lady Mrs. Obama and Vice President & Mrs. Biden...

Read More >>

The Texas comptroller's office on Friday announced $6 million in federal grants to help synchronize traffic lights in 15 cities and one county.  The timing of green lights will make traffic flow more quickly and more safely.  The money will also be used to install LEDs in traffic signals to cut down on electricity use. Among the communities sha...

Read More >>

Big changes are taking place in the oil drilling industry as a result of the Transocean oil rig explosion early last week.  The White House put a hold on any new offshore oil projects until the rig disaster that caused the spill is explained.  A comprehensive oil well intervention and spill-response plan is underway following theTransocean Deepw...

Read More >>

An elderly woman was killed early Sunday as the result of a traffic collision with a CenterPoint Energy bucket truck northwest Harris County.   Nancy Wright Hogue is from Hockley, about 35 miles northwest of downtown Houston, Texas. The CenterPoint driver, Gregory Allen Chelette, smashed into the Honda at the left door. Hogue died on impact. Ch...

Read More >>

The House of Representatives and now the Senate have both approved The Consolidated Appropriations Act.  This nearly $447 billion allocation of funds will provide agencies including the Department of Labor (DOL) with a substantial increase in funds for fiscal year 2010.  $13.3 billion in discretionary funding will be allocated to the DOL, $1.6 b...

Read More >>

Cleanup efforts continue for the biggest Texas oil spill in 15 years.  Officials on the scene have plans to reopen the waterway to smaller ships. No possible cause for the wreck has been released.  Initial reports suggested an unexpected power loss forced the Eagle Otome off course, but the Coast Guard has since retracted that report without of...

Read More >>

BP PLC said Wednesday two of its employees have been hospitalized after suffering steam burns while performing work at a process unit at its Texas City, Texas, refinery.  Local media outlets are reporting that the two employees are pipefitters at BP's Texas City refinery.  The two injured refinery workers were taken to a local hospital after sus...

Read More >>

He has been voted one of Houston's Top Lawyers for the People by H Texas magazine. He is also in the top 2% of that list.

Read More >>

Captain Richard Phillips, considered hero after being taken captive by Somali pirates, allegedly ignored repeated warnings to keep his freighter at least 600 miles off the African coast because of the heightened risk of attack.Records obtained by The Associated Press show that maritime safety groups issued warnings in the days before outlaws...

Read More >>

Globs of oil found on two Louisiana beaches after Hurrican Isaac has been confirmed as coming from the 2010 BP oil spill. Louisiana State University tested the oil, found on Elmer’s Island and Grand Isle, for state wildlife officials. It was found to match the biological fingerprint of the hundreds of millions of gallons of oil that spilled into...

Read More >>

The Texas Railroad Commission has found that a Houston company failed to adequately mark the path of a buried 36-inch natural gas pipeline in Johnson County that was struck and exploded in June, killing one person.  Enterprise Products Operating violated several Texas regulations, which may lead to fines of $10,000 per day per violation.   The...

Read More >>

In pertinent part taken from the article online here:A few days after the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded and sank in the Gulf of Mexico, survivors started getting unsolicited telephone calls. On the other end of the line was a friendly voice from a firm called Shuman Consulting. According to lawyers acting for several of the workers, it desc...

Read More >>

An Arlington, Texas motorcycle officer and a school bus collided this morning, leading to the unfortunate death of the policeman.  Witnesses said they saw flames coming from the motorcycle.  The bus driver and students on board were not hurt.  The officer's name was being withheld until his family had been notified, said Tiara Ellis Richard, a p...

Read More >>

The captain of a cruise liner that ran aground and capsized off the Tuscan coast Friday, leaving 6 dead, is being held by authorities for suspected manslaughter. A search of the ship was continuing Monday in rough seas for 16 people still unaccounted for. A prosecutor confirmed they also were investigating allegations that the captain abandoned...

Read More >>

BREAKING/DEVELOPING: The El Paso County Sheriff's Office has confirmed the death of an employee at the Arcelor Mittal Plant formerly known as Border Steel.   Apolonio Arras, 57, of Anthony, Texas was killed following reports of an explosion at about 2:40 a.m. Monday morning.   Employees at the plant, located at 8001 Border Steel, reported he...

Read More >>

A four-mile stretch at the opening of the upper Houston Ship Channel reopened this weekend after salvage crews removed a sunken tug from the waterway. One crew member was killed when the tug boat J.R. Nichols sank in the channel near the docks of the LyondellBasell refinery in Houston, Texas. The other four members of the boat's crew were resc...

Read More >>

A maritime accident involving a cargo ship in Kentucky caused a partial bridge collapse last week. According to officials, the accident occurred near the US 68/KY 80 bridge over Kentucky Lake. The cargo ship, the MV Delta Mariner, struck the bridge in the late evening. The 30-foot vessel was carrying rocket components for Boeing at the time. Fo...

Read More >>

Documents, obtained from a suspected terrorist who was questioned by police in Berlin, reveal plans by the terrorist group Al Qaeda to attack cruise vessels. The documents, which have now been obtained by CNN, have been retrieved from the terrorist, an Austrian man, who was questioned by police. Investigators found digital storage devices and s...

Read More >>

Oil and gas crews are getting back to work in the Gulf of Mexico after Hurricane Isaac passed. The storm has reportedly caused only minor damage to rigs and platforms. The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement said Monday that more than 58 percent of daily oil production and 39 percent of daily natural gas production in the Gulf is sti...

Read More >>

Tuesday afternoon just after 4pm, an accident involving a pick-up and an 18-wheeler caused severe personal injury to 32-year-old Wes Fletcher Jr. of Brownwood, Texas.  Fletcher was air lifted to Hendricks Medical Center in Abilene after his pick-up collided with the semi truck.  The driver of the semi and his passenger sustained minor injuries a...

Read More >>

Coast Guard workers rescued two commercial fishermen after they were forced to abandon ship when it started taking on water near Crescent City, California.  A Coast Guard helicopter and two motor lifeboats raced out to the fishing vessel Flamingo to assist the mariners.The commercial fishing vessel's crew reported taking on water due to damage f...

Read More >>

Chevron Corporation's underground oil pipeline in Salt Lake City sprung a leak, sending at least 500 barrels of crude oil into the Red Butte Creek Saturday.  Oil spill workers were able to stop the flow, according to the mayor's office.  Approximately 500 barrels of oil leaked from a pipeline bringing crude oil into the Salt Lake Valley from wes...

Read More >>

The search for missing passengers off the Italian coast amid the wreckage of the Costa Concordia was suspended Wednesday after the ship shifted on the rocks, making the situation too dangerous for rescue workers. Since the luxury liner crashed into rocks and capsized Friday, 11 people have been confirmed dead, and 23 are still missing. Salvage ...

Read More >>

News sources report that proper procedures were not followed in the hours and days before the Deepwater Horizon exploded in the Gulf of Mexico.The attorney for a witness to April 20 Gulf Coast Oil Rig Explosion says BP and the owner of the drilling platform, Transocean Ltd., started to remove a mud barrier before a final cement plug was installe...

Read More >>

(Summarized From WSJ) Some maritime shipping companies and fishing vessels are moving away from traditional unarmed sailing due to the increased pirate attacks.  Still, most of the international maritime community refuses to protect its seamen by arming vessels.  This is even with US Congress passing a bill limiting the liability of firms that u...

Read More >>

The Coast Guard is searching for a man reported missing 130 miles off the coast of Freeport, Wednesday.  The fishing crew of the commercial fishing vessel Maria Elena, a 65-foot shrimping vessel home ported in Brownsville at 8:30 a.m., reporting that a 60-year-old crew member, was not on board. The man was last seen at 3:30 a.m. Tuesday onboard ...

Read More >>

The U.S. Coast Guard today halted the search for a cruise ship passenger who reportedly fell overboard into the Atlantic, 47 miles east of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., on Sunday night. Another passenger aboard the Allure of the Seas cruise ship, as well as a surveillance camera, witnessed the 21-year-old woman from Bartlett, Tenn., falling overboard....

Read More >>

The U.S. Coast Guard has shut down the sole waterway leading into the Port of Houston after a barge accident in which a barge hit an electrical tower in the water.  Access to the Port may be cut off until Wednesday.   The towing vessel, T/V Safety Quest, was pushing three barges of scrap metal when it hit the high-line electrical tower, which ...

Read More >>

SMSH Partner Jonathan Harris obtained the limits of an insurance policy for the surviving family members whose mother was killed when a wrecker driver improperly secured the vehicle being towed.The clients felt that Mr. Harris's immediate action with the best experts in the nation and his constant contact with the family contributed to the quick...

Read More >>

There was a temporary shutdown in operations at the British Petroleum (BP) 455,790 barrel-per-day plant refinery in Texas City, Texas today, according to the Texas City Emergency Management.  According to officials, the electricity in a steam generating facility was tripped and the plant lost the capability to export steam to its various units. ...

Read More >>

The Coast Guard medically evacuated a crewmember suffering chest pains from the freighter Joseph L. Block this morning.  The man complained of chest pains and had pain in at least one arm. The Joseph L. Block, a 714-foot vessel, was approximately 30-miles southwest of Grand Haven, Michigan when they reported a crewmember in distress early today...

Read More >>

A man died after he was hit by a Chevrolet truck in east Harris County Friday night.  Harold Horton was crossing an intersection in the 600 block of Freeport when a truck hit him.  He was sadly pronounced dead at LBJ Hospital. According to the Houston Chronicle, it is unknown at this time if the driver of the truck will be criminally charged at...

Read More >>

An 18-wheeler overturned in east Harris County today, and authorities say it is leaking hydrochloric acid. The accident happened on Haden Road just near the East Freeway.  A cloud of hydrochloric acid is leaking from that rig. HazMat teams and firefighters are staying back from the truck as a precaution. The cloud of hydrochloric acid is drift...

Read More >>

  DePuy Orthopaedics Inc. ASR Hip Implant Products Liability Litigation (MDL 2197) was directed to the Northern District of Ohio by the MDL Panel.  The Multidistrict Litigation (MDL) process helps conserve parties' resources, and saves time for the judiciary and the attorneys for both sides.  Judge David A. Katz will handle pre-trial issues f...

Read More >>

More than a dozen 7th and 8th grade students were taken to nearby hospitals after their Pasadena, Texas school bus collided with a pickup truck this morning on their way to school.  The crash occurred at the intersection of Genoa Red Bluff Road and Old Genoa Red Bluff Road while the Texas school bus was driving toward Bondy Intermediate School ...

Read More >>

Six oil workers were rescued after they were stranded for three days post Tropical Storm Nate in the Gulf of Mexico. The seventh worker, who had been rescued, died in the hospital. Out of the ten workers who were stranded in the Gulf of Mexico, two died and their bodies have been recovered. Search efforts for a missing crewmember are still on. ...

Read More >>

The California sailboat racing community has been shocked by two fatal accidents just weeks apart. While the first accident occurred when a rogue wave swept several crewmembers off a boat killing five people, the second occurred just off the Mexican coast a few days later. Investigators with the US Coast Guard believe that the second boat, whic...

Read More >>

A possible strike by the International Longshoremen’s Association could bring Port of Houston container shipment traffic to a standstill shortly after Christmas.  ILA head Harold Daggett sent a letter to ILA unions across the nation telling them to get ready for a “coastwide strike beginning at 12:01 a.m. Sunday, Dec. 30.” Contract negotiations...

Read More >>

The family of a Tug Boat worker who was killed while working in the Houston Ship Channel has retained SMSH as counsel to represent them in their causes of action related to his death.

Read More >>

The disabled cruise ship Carnival Splendor was left drifting listlessly off of the Mexican coast this week after a fire caused the vessel to lose power.  4,500 passengers and crewmembers remain stranded at sea. The 952-foot Mexican Riviera-bound cruise ship departed from Long Beach, California on Sunday.  An engine room fire in the generator's ...

Read More >>

UPDATE: A lawsuit has been filed by the survivor of this oil refinery explosion. The welding accident involving a tar tank explosion.   One of the two injured survivors, Juan Carlos Hermosillo, aka Elias Aleman, sustained occupational injuries of the face, arms, and back, including several fractures and lacerations.  The 24-year old plaint...

Read More >>

A routine training flight turned into a real rescue for a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter crew, who evacuated an injured man from a tugboat near Dauphin Island.  The Coast Guard medevaced a crewmember from a vessel approximately two miles off the coast of Dauphin Island, Alabama.  Dauphin Island is a town in Mobile County, Alabama on a barrier islan...

Read More >>

In the wake of a recent attack on the Maersk Alabama off the coast of Somalia, . Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood is warning shipping companies about the need to take necessary safety precautions to prevent or foil such attacks.   According to Secretary LaHood, the failed attacks on the Maersk Alabama and  the MV-Harriett shows it's possibl...

Read More >>

A Shell Oil drilling ship lost its mooring in Alaska’s Dutch Harbor last week, drifting dangerously close to shore. Despite witness claims, inspections by divers show no evidence that the ship ran aground.  The 571-foot Noble Discoverer is part of the Shell fleet getting ready for exploratory drilling in the Arctic waters of the Chukchi and Bea...

Read More >>

SMSH Partner Matt Shaffer represents Mrs. Laura Cloudy, widow of a tugboat captain who was killed in a fall from a ladder aboard his vessel in the Houston Ship Channel. Charles Langston Cloudy, 54 and a a licensed master of towing vessels, sadly died when he fell about 7 feet from a ladder on Oct. 8, 2009, at a dock in Channelview, Texas.Witness...

Read More >>

Two teen brothers, Devon Ramey, age 16 and Dakota Ramey, age 15, were being treated Wednesday at a Fort Worth hospital after a wreck Monday evening that killed two other youths and a young adult near Decatur.  A 1998 Dodge Stratus driven by Michael James Santos, 20 veered from the highway and crashed into a tractor-trailer parked at a rest stop....

Read More >>

The National Transportation Safety Board has released the results of an investigation into a maritime accident in the Sabine-Neches Canal last year that resulted in thousands of gallons of oil being spilled into the water.  The accident occurred in January 2010, and involved a collision between the tank ship Eagle Otome the cargo vessel Gulf Ar...

Read More >>

The month of March is Brain Injury Awareness Month.  Since many of our firm's clients are the victims of traumatic brain injuries in their on-the-job accidents or from a motor vehicle collision impact, we make every effort to stay aware of the medical information surrounding brain injuries, especially what brain injury services and treatments ar...

Read More >>

Rescue operations again were suspended Friday after the stricken Costa Concordia shifted in choppy seas off the Italian coast, increasing concerns about a possible fuel leak. Eleven people have been confirmed dead and at least 22 are still missing after the cruise liner struck rocks and capsized off the coast of the tiny island of Giglio. Also...

Read More >>

Arthur Schechter, Founding Partner of SMSH, has been named a Texas Super Lawyer for 2008, for the sixth straight year.  Congratulations!Super Lawyers is published as a special supplement in leading newspapers and city and regional magazines across the country. Super Lawyers magazine, featuring articles about attorneys named to the Super Lawyers ...

Read More >>

  SEATTLE - The U.S. Coast Guard medically evacuated a sick male crewmember from the tug boat Swinomish at 6:19 p.m., Thursday.   The 57-year-old male was transferred to Emergency Medical Services in Port Townsend, Wash.   The ill or injured crewmember was transferred from the 68-foot tug boat to awaiting EMS at Point Hudson marina in Por...

Read More >>

This week, the Metropolitan Transit Authority fired a wrecker driver involved in a fatal Houston accident that killed a 64-year-old woman.  The wrecker driver, Gregory Clark had been working for Metro for the past 32 years.  Clark had been driving the wrecker, which crashed into a pickup truck that had stopped to let a pedestrian cross the stree...

Read More >>

The pilot who was navigating an 810-foot tanker through the Sabine-Neches Ship Channel in 2010 was tired and suffering from a sleep disorder, while the second pilot was reading a newspaper, according to a National Transportation Safety Board report. Federal investigators said Tuesday that these factors, in conjunction with lax regulations, cont...

Read More >>

A sightseeing vessel ran aground in Alaska’s Glacier Bay, filling the vessel with water. Seventy-six people were rescued, but none were seriously injured, U.S. Coast Guard officials said. The boat was stabilized after the accident, and there were no signs of spills or other pollution. Most of the passengers were transferred to a Holland America...

Read More >>

U.S. Coast Guard crews rescued 14 people from life rafts and still are searching for the missing captain of the HMS Bounty, a replica 18-century sailing vessel made famous in Hollywood adventure films, including “Mutiny on the Bounty.” One crewmember was found unresponsive and later pronounced dead after the vessel rolled over in 18-foot waves f...

Read More >>

  Enterprise Products' facility in Mont Belvieu, Texas has reported a petrochemical plant fire, about 35 miles east of Houston.  Witnesses describe intense heat and seeing nearby trucks exploded as a result of that heat.  Callers in to local media outlets report having heard loud explosions.  The company reports that the fire took place at th...

Read More >>

Schechter, McElwee Shaffer & Harris is proud to announce that, for the second year in a row, two SMSH lawyers, Matt Shaffer and Ambassador Arthur Schechter, have been named Texas Super Lawyers by Texas Monthly Magazine. This honor is only given to the top 5% of Texas lawyers.

Read More >>

  (photo from KHOU staff)Two Houston contract workers were injured today, one of them fatally, in a collision along the tracks of an elevated people mover at Bush Intercontinental Airport.  The Houston airport tram collision occurred about 11:40 a.m. on an elevated track near the Marriott Hotel and Bush Airport Terminals.  The contractors wer...

Read More >>

HOUSTON - The Coast Guard medevaced a man from a 809-foot chemical tanker in Galveston Fairway Anchorage near Galveston, Wednesday.   Watchstanders at Sector Houston Galveston received a report at approximately 12:28 a.m. that a 44-year old male crewman aboard the Eagle Toledo was in tremendous pain after attempting to lift a heavy object.   ...

Read More >>

BP will hold a press briefing today to provide an update on the Gulf of Mexico oil spill response. It will be held at 12:00 p.m. CDT in Houston, TX. The speaker will be BP Senior Executive Vice-President Kent Wells. Media interested in attending should email: deepwaterhorizonresponse@hotmail.com. WHAT: BP to hold a technical briefing and update...

Read More >>

A man who was at the controls of a powerboat that crashed into a sailboat off Hull, Massachusetts, has been arrested and charged with operating a boat while drunk. The accident which occurred over the weekend resulted in the death of a female passenger in the powerboat.  She was thrown out of the boat on impact.  Police at the scene found signs...

Read More >>

The International Chamber Of Commerce International Maritime Bureau’s latest global piracy report has both good and bad news for maritime lawyers. The bad news is that pirate attacks continued to rise this year to record levels. The good news however, is that more and more vessels are being successful in thwarting pirate attacks. According to t...

Read More >>

(Excerpted Content taken from AP News) The company that owns the Maersk Alabama, a freighter targeted by pirates twice in seven months, did not heed a request to rename, repaint or reroute the ship after the first attack off the coast of Africa in the spring, former crew members say. Ex-crewmen John Cronan (client of SMSH) and Shane Murphy said...

Read More >>

At least 12 have been reported dead as the hostage crisis continues at a BP gas plant in Algeria, including Texas resident Frederick Buttaccio. It is unclear how Buttaccio died during the standoff, but U.S. officials have said his remains had been recovered and family notified. More than a dozen al-Qaeda-linked armed militants attacked the dese...

Read More >>

The Coast Guard is responding to an offshore oil production platform explosion on the Vermillion Oil production platform 380.  According to the Coast Guard, the platform explosion occurred 80-90 miles south of Grand Isle, Louisiana, south of Vermillion Bay.  The oil platform both is owned and operated by a relatively small company, Houston-based...

Read More >>

The most recent four Jones Act cases on file in Texas and Louisiana by SMSH are:1.  We represent the widow of a Captain in her Jones Act death case.  Her husband was killed while working aboard a push boat after signing on in the Port of Houston.2.  We represent a Plaintiff who was injured while descending a set of improperly designed aluminum s...

Read More >>

At least 19 people are feared drowned after a fishing boat capsized in the Rupnarayan river in the Indian state of West Bengal.  The boat, which was carrying 29 people, sank near the town of Kolaghat on Sunday. The passengers were picnickers who hired two fishing boats for a ride on the river.  At least 10 of the picnickers have already been re...

Read More >>

BP has agreed to plead guilty to felony charges, as well as pay $4.5 billion in penalties, in relation to the April 2010 Deepwater Horizon explosion that left 11 workers dead and resulted in a massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.The oil giant announced it would plead guilty to 11 felony counts of “misconduct or neglect of ships officers” in ...

Read More >>

Three commercial fishermen suffered maritime burn injuries after their fishing boat caught fire along the St. Mary's River yesterday in St. Mary's Georgia.  The three-member crew of the 24-foot fishing boat HAY BRUT reported a fire on board, to which the Coast Guard responded.  The crew managed to put the fire out before the Coast Guard's arriva...

Read More >>

The International Maritime Bureau on Monday reported a 54 percent drop in maritime piracy in the first six months of the year. The group attributed the decline to anti-piracy operations by international navies off Somalia, increased vigilance, and the use of armed guards by private ships. The new numbers show that 177 attacks were reported worl...

Read More >>

Some of BP's choices allowed it to minimize costly delays. "We were behind schedule already," said Tyrone Benton, a technician who operated underwater robots and worked for a subcontractor. He said that on the day before the accident, a Monday, managers "hoped we'd be finished by that Friday.... But it seemed like they were pushing to finish it ...

Read More >>

Royal Dutch Shell is trying to defend its offshore safety record, after attacks by environmental safety groups over a leak from a Shell platform in the North Sea. Shell has confirmed that it has managed to plug the leak from its Gannet Alpha platform, which is located just 112 miles off Aberdeen, Scotland. The leak resulted in more than 200 ton...

Read More >>

SMSH Partner Matthew Shaffer filed four new Jones Act lawsuits in April and May.Jones Act - New Filings:1.  Plaintiff injured his back and wrist while setting a giant POD.  Plaintiff climbed up the POD and hurt his back and wrist when the boat rocked.  No safety equipment was provided.2.  Plaintiff was offloading scrap metal and while on the pie...

Read More >>

Houston Police closed all southbound lanes of the Gulf Freeway near Webster, Texas Tuesday morning for an investigation into a double fatality.  The Gulf Freeway was closed at El Dorado, only reopening after noon. Police were investigating a fatal Houston drunk-driving crash that occurred on Monday afternoon in the 18900 block of the southbound...

Read More >>

A Turkish cargo ship caught fire while anchored in Georgian territorial waters.  Territorial waters, are a belt of coastal waters extending at most twelve nautical miles from a coastal state. Territorial waters are the sovereign territory of the state, and foreign ships are allowed innocent passage. One person was injured as a result of fire.  ...

Read More >>

Jonathan Harris and Arthur Schechter were named top Lawyers for the People by H Texas Magazine.Read more at the HTexas.com site here.

Read More >>

Two people were rescued, one person has been confirmed dead, and 11 others are feared drowned in eastern China after a the Pengxiang 9 sank following its collision with another boat, the motor vessel Jintai 618, in the Yangtze River.  The Yangtze River is China's longest waterway.  Fourteen people total were on board the vessel when it sank.  "P...

Read More >>

According to the Mississippi Clarion-Ledger, at least three Mississippians are among the 11 missing after Tuesday's oil rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico, and a fourth might have survived. Dewey Revette, 48, of State Line; Aaron Dale Burkeen, 37, of the Sandtown community near Philadelphia; and Shane Roshto, 22, of Liberty, were not accounted...

Read More >>

A 10-vehicle wreck this morning caused big problems on the South Loop in Houston, Texas.  The car wreck involved two big rigs and eight passenger vehicles and shut down 610 South for about 40 minutes.  Video is available by clicking here. Houston police truck enforcement officers are on the scene to see if the rigs involved were in compliance, ...

Read More >>

A 30 year-old Houston, Texas commercial diver, was found unresponsive this past Saturday while working on a vessel in navigation in the Gulf of Mexico.  An autopsy is planned to find out the cause of death.  The incident stemmed from what is believed to be a mechanical malfunction with diving equipment, according to one local Texas fire official...

Read More >>

Coast Guard personnel will conduct voluntary commercial passenger vessel safety examinations throughout the Lake Texoma region February 12-15, 2010 based upon requests received from owners of commercial passenger vessels operated on Lake Texoma. The Coast Guard encourages vessel owners to specify a marina or other public location where Coast Gua...

Read More >>

A Texas highway department employee was killed when he was hit by a truck at a work site in Harrison County. The Texas Department of Transportation identified the victim as Tony Overhultz, a highway department inspector.  Mr. Overhulz was working on Interstate 20 when a truck hauling paving materials backed over him, according to highway depart...

Read More >>

A Costa Cruises ship crashed into a pier early today as it was docking at the Red Sea port of Sharm el-Sheik, Egypt, killing three crew members, an Indian, a Honduran and a Brazilian, and injuring four, three British women and an Italian man.  The cruise ship had 1,437 passengers on board at the time of the accident. Costa Cruises says in a sta...

Read More >>

This morning a fire broke out on board the ferry Aurora near Spectacle Island in Boston, Massachusetts.  Spectacle Island is an island in Boston Harbor and is serviced by ferries to and from Boston. The crew of the Aurora used the boat's fire extinguishing system to put out the fire but did notify the Coast Guard as well, and they sent out a ut...

Read More >>

A hit-and-run driver struck and killed a 1-year-old boy last weekend in north Houston, Texas.  He was found with a head injury in the middle of the street on Sunday, according to the Houston Police Department.The accident took place at or near the 1200 block of Peach Spring Drive about 4:30 p.m. The boy was found by his family members in the st...

Read More >>

For the second time in a week, a pedestrian was killed by DART commuter train The Trinity Railway Express, which runs between Dallas, Texas and Fort Worth, Texas.  The impact pushed the victim's body into a nearby intersection and she was pronounced dead at the scene. The train operator saw the pedestrian and sounded the horn.  Last week, a man...

Read More >>

Five more bodies were found Tuesday, bringing the total dead to 11 after the Costa Concordia hit rocks and capsized Friday off the Italian coast. The search for missing continued as navy explosives experts blasted a hole in the vessel’s hull to provide access to search-and-rescue teams. The ship’s captain was still in jail as investigators cont...

Read More >>

The Texas Transportation Commission recently approved a maximum speed limit of 85 mph for a new, 41-mile toll road from Austin to Seguin, making Texas the first in the nation to have a speed limit that high. The roadway opens in November. Most U.S. highways top out at 75 mph speed limits. A few rural highways in Texas and Utah already have 80 m...

Read More >>

Shane Fuller, 31, fell from the back of a moving truck Saturday afternoon near Bay Street Park is in a coma, his grandfather said Monday.The accident happened in the 1300 block of Bay Street about 2:30 p.m. when Fuller stood up in the truck's bed as it was moving and was thrown out.  According to news reports, his head slammed into the pavement,...

Read More >>

SMSH Founding Partner Arthur Schechter, a former Metropolitan Transit Authority chairman and former U.S. ambassador to the Bahamas, was named as Chairman of a commission established by Houston Mayor Bill White yesterday to study the strict term limits applied to Houston's elected officials in 1993. This 21-member commission will study Houston's...

Read More >>

Royal Dutch Shell announced today after a series of delays and setbacks that it was holding off until next year in its efforts to drill into oil and gas deposits in the Arctic offshore. In the latest delay, the company’s high-tech dome, which is designed to contain oil should an underwater spill happen, was damaged during a test. Shell said it ...

Read More >>

Justin Wood, a 27-year-old Gretna man was killed as the result of an oilfield explosion Friday.  Wood was working with oil field equipment when an explosion occurred during a pressure test.  Wood was working at a Supreme Services job site, 108 Southwood Road, at the time of his fatal workplace accident.   The oilfield workers were said to be u...

Read More >>

Tulane Green Wave football player Sule Osagiede died Thursday morning in Beaumont, Texas, as a result of injuries sustained in an auto accident. Osagiede was a one-year letterwinner as a linebacker, and played in nine games as a true freshman during the 2008 season, registering seven tackles. He missed the 2009 season after he was medically di...

Read More >>

A coalition of environmental groups from five states filed a lawsuit Monday in federal court claiming the Environmental Protection Agency rules on chemical dispersants used in oil spill cleanups do not adhere to clean water standards. The lawsuit says the EPA has not published regulations on acceptable use of such dispersants in response to oil...

Read More >>

The threat of a strike of more than 14,000 longshoremen across the nation is looming as the deadline to renew a contract between the International Longshoremen’s Association and the U.S. Maritime Alliance rapidly approaches. The contract, which already was extended for 90 days, will expire at 12:01 am. Sunday. If no agreement is reached between...

Read More >>

Matthew D. Shaffer was named a Texas Super Lawyer in 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008.Super Lawyers is a listing of outstanding lawyers from more than 70 practice areas who have attained a high degree of peer recognition and professional achievement.

Read More >>

More than 60 people packed a Houston courtroom this morning to watch John Jacob Winne, 32, plead guilty in the 2008 death of 13-year-old Nicole Lalime, also known as "Lilly". Winne was sentenced to 30 years in prison for intoxication manslaughter and 10 years for failure to stop and render aid, terms to run consecutively. Winne will have to ser...

Read More >>

A Russian cargo ship with 30 crewmembers became stranded in icy waters off eastern Russia today.  The ship collects fresh fish from local boats and delivers the catch, processing and canning while en route to the delivery ports. The Smolninsky refrigerated vessel is listing dangerously to its port side in the Sea of Okhotsk.  Ice has formed on ...

Read More >>

SMSH has been retained to represent the family of Garrett "Les" Keenan, one of two people who suffered third degree burns in a gas pipeline incident about two miles from the Oklahoma state line on County Road 28 in Wheeler County, Texas.  Workers employed by the Perryton business Gorman & Phillips Construction Co. struck the existing third-party...

Read More >>

A car hit a school bus earlier today in Northwest Harris County, Houston, Texas.  Three students were taken to Methodist Hospital in Willowbrook. A green Toyota Camry pulled into the intersection directly in front of a school bus.  The bus driver couldn't stop in time, and struck the Camry so hard that the car spun around. The four people in t...

Read More >>

Three people are reportedly dead and at least 10 others remain accounted for after a ruptured gas line caused an explosion near Pecan Plantation on Monday afternoon.  A lot of people have been transported to hospital with burn injuries. Hood County Commissioner Steve Barry told local media that several people were burned when a 36-inch gas line...

Read More >>

On June 1st, 2006, Arthur Schechter will be returning to Schechter, McElwee, Shaffer & Harris, LLP as Senior Counsel. He will be available for arbitration, mediation and litigation of substantial cases on contingent fee.

Read More >>

In the most recent construction accident at the Dallas Cowboys stadium, two construction workers were severely injured when they slipped and fell at least 50 feet. The two workers were performing maintenance activities on the top hatch of the stadium yesterday morning, when they fell 50 feet.   Both landed on a rain gutter, and apparently were...

Read More >>

A man caught beneath a crane while working at the Houston Ship Channel on Tuesday night died after being rushed to the hospital. The man was working at the Barbours Cut Terminal when he was caught beneath a crane that started to move, said Joe Trevino, vice president of the International Longshoremen’s Association. The man’s legs were severed ...

Read More >>

Longshoremen shut down ports in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania on Tuesday to protest Del Monte Fresh Produce Co.'s move away from Camden, New Jersey to a cheaper-labor terminal.  The International Longshoremen's Association (ILA) was protesting Del Monte's decision to break a 20-year agreement with the ILA in Philadelphia and transfer 75 ...

Read More >>

57-year-old Thomas Pickett of Rockwall, Texas died while diving near Key Largo, Florida in water about 20 feet deep at Elbow Reef yesterday.  His dive partner says he did not appear to have trouble during the dive, but other witnesses say Pickett surfaced and began to have trouble.   Authorities say he was pulled into the boat and was unconsci...

Read More >>

Five college students are in the hospital after a Saturday night drunk-driving accident in downtown Houston. A pickup truck ran a red light on St. Joseph Parkway and smashed into a car on Fannin, sideswiping the driver's side door.  Police think the truck driver was intoxicated.  The alleged drunk driver has been hospitalized with minor injurie...

Read More >>

Six fishermen are missing after their boat was hit by a Maltese steamship Monday night near Taizhou City in eastern China.  The 30-meter-long boat, a Chinese-registered fishing vessel, was fishing 20 nautical miles east of Dacheng Island when it was hit by the 169-meter-long, Maltese-registered vessel MELINAI Monday evening, according to Chinese...

Read More >>

Questions are being raised about a fatal accident last week involving a HPD patrol car.  Houston Police Department Patrol Man Kyle Dozier was driving his patrol car at approximately 60 mph when he crashed into a vehicle during a car chase.  The couple in the other car sustained the brunt of the impact.  A female passenger in the car was killed...

Read More >>

DOT Issues Rule Requiring Electronic On-Board Recorders for Truck and Bus Companies with Serious Hours-of-Service Violations Department to Consider Broader EOBR Mandate Later this Year The U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has issued a new rule requiring interstate commercial truck and bus compani...

Read More >>

Thirteen workers were hurt on Saturday in a process upset at ConocoPhillips' refinery in Borger, Texas.  The Borger refinery is a 50/50 business venture with Cenovus Energy, and is able to process up to 146,000 barrels of crude oil a day.   ConocoPhillips reported a brief emissions event Saturday at its Borger, Texas, refinery stemming from an...

Read More >>

  A three-vehicle accident yesterday on Highway 437 led to the unfortunate and tragic death of a 2 year-old child, pronounced dead at the motor vehicle accident scene.  The collision involved a sedan, a pick-up truck and a 12-yard dump truck.   The child was riding in the sedan with an adult female Sarah Givens.  Ms. Givens was sent by AirMed...

Read More >>

On Friday, July 2, Darnell Amerson died due to injuries sustained in a Norfolk-Southern Railroad train accident.  Amerson was working as a conductor at a train yard owned by Norfolk-Southern Railroad in Meridian, Mississippi at the time of his unfortunate fatal accident.  Early news reports about the accident stated that Amerson was critically i...

Read More >>

Tug boat pilot, Matthew Devlin, pled guilty to an involuntary manslaughter charge on Monday, August 1, 2011.  Two tourists died from the accident on July 7, 2010, when a barge crashed into a duck boat that was stalled in the Delaware River.  The operator did not receive notice that the duck boat was stopped in his path because he had turned his ...

Read More >>

SMSH Partner Matt Shaffer has filed suit in two new Jones Act claims in Texas.In the first Texas case, Mr. Shaffer represents an injured deckhand. Injuries were sustained while working on a push boat/river boat after signing on in the Port of Houston.  The plaintiff was facing up another boat, struggling to pull face wire, when he felt a snap an...

Read More >>

Matthew Shaffer, Schechter, McElwee, Shaffer & Harris, L.L.P. maritime partner, has been nominated by his fellow Texas attorneys to be a 2010 Texas Super Lawyer for the fifth straight year. Only five percent of Texas attorneys are named to this list. June 9, 2010 -- Matthew Shaffer, Schechter, McElwee, Shaffer & Harris, L.L.P. maritime partner...

Read More >>

SMSH Partner, Matthew D. Shaffer, represents ten laborers that were injured in the disastrous explosion that took place at the British Petroleum Plant at Texas City, Texas on March 23, 2005. SMSH clients were working for a variety of subcontractors and were seriously injured in the explosion. These claims are on file in the 212th Judicial Distri...

Read More >>

KHOU Houston reports on a tragic story of a local high school cheerleader who was killed in a car crash.  Nicole Vestal, only 16 years old, died in a June 2 car accident on FM 2100 and Stroker Road.  Her funeral was set for 2 p.m. today at Fellowship of the Nations Church, 13305 Woodforest Blvd., Houston, with services starting at 2:00 pm. Inter...

Read More >>

Smith International has confirmed that two employees of its M-I Swaco venture are among the 11 missing crew members after the explosion and sinking of the Transocean semi-submersible rig Deepwater Horizon.  Transocean has said the other nine missing crew from the Transocean explosion are members of its staff. Smith said there were five M-I Swac...

Read More >>

The offshore energy industry continues to show interest in the Gulf of Mexico's Outer Continental Shelf, with 67 companies submitting bids on 468 tracts offered offshore Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama in the Minerals Management Service Central Gulf Sale 213 that took place yesterday, March 17, 2010 at the Louisiana Superdome. A total of 29...

Read More >>

An explosion at a fuel storage and intermodal terminal near the Port of Galveston about 7 p.m. Thursday was heard across the island and into parts of the Galveston County mainland. Firefighters responded to the 3-alarm fire that shut down the road to Pelican Island and left Texas A&M University at Galveston students on lockdown. There were abou...

Read More >>

NATO says one of its destroyers, the Danish warship HDMS Absalon, has sunk a pirate mothership off the Somali coast, after allowing the crew to leave.  The Danish flagship is one of the three-vessel NATO flotilla in the region.  The 6,300-ton Absalon, commissioned in 2007, serves as the flagship of the NATO flotilla. It arrived off Somalia in Ja...

Read More >>

A 6-year-old girl was killed and two other children and another person were injured in a three-vehicle wreck that shut down part of the westbound Katy Freeway today.  It was not clear what caused the crash. The girl died at the scene, and a teenager, an infant and an 11-year-old child were injured and taken to Texas Children’s Hospital, conditi...

Read More >>

A 54-year-old Texas woman and one of her grandson’s were killed in a collision between an 18-wheeler and a pickup truck.Cheryl Self, 54, of Fort Stockton, Texas and her 13-year-old grandson Christopher Mielke of Aberdeen, S.D. died in an 18-wheeler collision Friday.  The two were passengers in an 18-wheeler which had an accident with a pickup tr...

Read More >>

The following product safety recall was voluntarily conducted by the firm in cooperation with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). Consumers should stop using the product immediately unless otherwise instructed. It is illegal to resell or attempt to resell a recalled consumer product. Name of Product: Suzuki QuadSport ATVs Units...

Read More >>

The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has cited O.S. Interior Systems Inc., an interior contracting company, for alleged workplace safety violations following a fatality at the company's worksite at 20555 State Highway 249 in Houston, Texas.  Proposed penalties total $112,000.OSHA found that the empl...

Read More >>

The Christmas holiday cruise season will soon get underway, and thousands of vacationers across the country will set off on a dream vacation on the sea. It is the right time for passengers to understand that there are dangers on a cruise vacation that they may not always be aware of.  MSNBC has a timely report on an increasing number of inciden...

Read More >>

The Coast Guard is saying the oil platform Deepwater Horizon that suffered a massive explosion two days ago has sunk in the Gulf of Mexico.   Coast Guard Petty Officer Katherine McNamara said Thursday that the Deepwater Horizon had gone under.  The Coast Guard is still searching for 11 crewmembers who went missing after the blast Tuesday.  The r...

Read More >>

The U.S. Coast Guard on Sunday located two men on a shrimping boat who had been reported missing. Manuel Gallardo Castillo and Faulsto Gomez Jr. left Brownsville on Thursday, heading for Tampico, Mexico. Coast Guard searchers found the men about 1 a.m. Sunday, a day after they were reported missing. The Mexican navy also was dispatched to help...

Read More >>

Investigations are going on into a barge accident in Tennessee this week that killed two fishermen. The two men were in a 16-foot motor boat that was T-boned by nine barges on the Tennessee River. There were three men on the boat, and only one of them survived the accident. According to the survivor, they had been fishing on Saturday evening th...

Read More >>

BP began burning oil siphoned from its ruptured well in the Gulf of Mexico early Wednesday.  BP told the media that oil and gas from its leaking well first reached a semi-submersible drilling rig on the ocean surface around 1 a.m.  This after BP suffered a setback on Tuesday when lightning struck the Discovery Enterprise, the ship which is captu...

Read More >>

Three New Jones Act Lawsuits on File:1.  Plaintiff was injured while working on workboat when he attempted to unhook a box being lowered to deck by a crane with wet and slippery equipment, causing him to slip and fall onto deck, injuring his neck and back.2.  Plaintiff was on platform while in the process of going across to a vessel, and a cable...

Read More >>

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced today that drivers of commercial trucks and buses will be banned from texting under federal guidelines. The federal government is joining in the fight to eliminate distracted driving and the accidents it causes. The prohibition is effective immediately.  Truck and bus drivers who text while dr...

Read More >>

Two chemical tankers collided in the Gulf of Mexico early Wednesday about 70 miles south of Galveston, according to U.S. Coast Guard officials. Both vessels were en route to Houston at the time of the crash. The Chem Sea, a 385-foot tanker, and Bow Kiso, a 557-foot tanker, collided about 4:30 a.m. Wednesday. The double-hulled Bow Kiso, a Panama...

Read More >>

Injured pilot seeks medical expenses, lost wages from ship owner   6/1/2009 3:16 PM By Kelly Holleran A Florida man has filed suit against AEP River Operations, alleging he was not reimbursed for injuries he sustained while working on a boat for the company.James L. Forholt says he sustained back, neck, eye, shoulder and hand injuries on Apr...

Read More >>

SMSH Partner Matt Shaffer will be posting regular "tweets" on Twitter about Jones Act issues and all related offshore news.  Matt's Twitter page can be found by looking up his Twitter name JonesAct or clicking HERE.SMSH Associate Attorney Stacey Burke has also begun regular tweets about her ERISA practice.  Stacey plans to post relevant informat...

Read More >>

A potentially economy crippling strike by port workers on the East and Gulf coasts was averted Friday when the International Longshoremen’s Association and the U.S. Maritime Alliance agreed to a 30-day contract extension. The longshoremen had been preparing to strike Sunday, which would have had a dramatic impact on 14 major ports in the United ...

Read More >>

Texas Maritime Attorney Matthew Shaffer was quoted regarding the Deepwater Horizon offshore oil rig explosion and his representation of three injured survivors and the family of one of 11 workers who died in the rig explosion.  For the full text of the article, please click the link to: "Real-time data help inquiry into rig explosion: Details se...

Read More >>

Private security guards on a Spanish fishing vessel repelled a pirate attack in the Indian Ocean southwest of the Seychelles, according to Defence Ministry.The fishing vessel and personnel did not suffered any personal injury after the attack. The incident was reported by telephone from the vessel Ortubé Berria to the Centre for Maritime Surveil...

Read More >>

An Amtrak passenger was injured Sunday when the train he was riding in smashed into the trailer of an 18-wheeler that got stuck on a railroad crossing in east Fort Worth, Texas. The passenger was taken to the hospital.  His or her condition remains uknown, but the injuries are not believed to be life-threatening. The truck driver was not injur...

Read More >>

Fox News is reporting that a contract worker was killed when a sports utility vehicle ran into him in a ditch. The 50-year-old victim was looking for utility lines when the vehicle hit and pinned him in the ditch, Pasadena Police investigators said. The driver of the SUV was swerving on the road when she crashed into a ditch on Allen Genoa and...

Read More >>

The driver of an 18-wheeler died in a fiery collision with another big rig on U.S. 59 in Rosenberg this morning, forcing authorities to shut down portions of the Southwest Freeway.  The wreck happened on the south bound Southwest Freeway near Spur 529.  Authorities closed the south bound lanes while emergency crews and police cleared the site. I...

Read More >>

Today, January 22, 2010, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (under the Department of Commerce) started construction of the Gulf of Mexico Disaster Response Center in Mobile, Alabama. The facility is set to open in 2011, and will function as a center for NOAA's emergency preparedness, response, restoration, and recovery in the G...

Read More >>

A helicopter fired warning shots toward a suspected pirate skiff, where six Somali men sat among assault rifles, grappling hooks and an aluminum ladder. But before it could be boarded by sailors from a nearby warship, the men threw all the gear overboard.  They were let go, and nothing was done to prevent their return. The high-seas encounter l...

Read More >>

Laura Dekker, a 14-year-old Dutch girl whose bid to sail solo around the world was blocked by a court, has gone missing, leaving behind her boat, police said Sunday. Her goal is to set the record as the youngest sailor to circumnavigate the globe. In October, Utrecht District Court refused her attempt to become the youngest person to sail alone...

Read More >>

La Marque, Texas police are investigating a two-car accident in the 8200 block of FM 1765.  This car crash led to one person becoming critically injured and one with a medical condition that is unknown at this time.The wreck was caused when a car traveling east veered across traffic lanes, crossed the center line, and collided with a westbound s...

Read More >>

A fisherman is now feared dead after the boat he was working on collided with a ship and sank in the English Channel.  The accident Sunday happened at night in clear conditions in northern France.  The British registered 50ft crabbing vessel sank 20 miles off the coast of Cherbourg. It is believed that the missing man, a 21-year-old from Teignm...

Read More >>

Rescue crews pulled out an injured Texas construction worker stuck at the bottom of a trench in Fort Worth on Wednesday afternoon.  The man was working at a site south of Loop 820 and east of Interstate 35W. The man was working 5 feet within a tunnel at the bottom of a 20-foot trench when he was injured by equipment, according to the Fort Worth...

Read More >>

Jones Act – general maritime – Plaintiff pulled swede wire on the stern of a boat and the wire got caught on the propeller.  Case to be filed in California.Jones Act – general maritime – Plaintiff fell on slick spot in engine room.   and injured his right knee and hit his head, right hip, right shoulder, head.  He was wearing a hard hat.  There ...

Read More >>

The Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) seeks revise its Occupational Injury and Illness Recording and Reporting (recordkeeping) regulation.  OSHA believes it needs to restore a column on its Form 300 to better identify work-related musculoskeletal disorders.  Many employers are currently required to track ...

Read More >>

The European Council on Monday approved launching a civilian mission to support anti-piracy efforts in the Horn of Africa and Western Indian Ocean. Maritime piracy lawyers know these waters as some of the most dangerous for pirate activity. The two-year mission, EUCAP Nestor, aims to train and equip coast guard services and improve maritime sec...

Read More >>

A drunken man sped and rear-ended another car on the Eastex Freeway. The car that was hit, became stuck at an overpass and was hit by an 18-wheeler. The driver of that car was killed and the car's passenger was taken to the hospital in serious condition.  Authorities say the suspected drunk driver jumped over a freeway wall and got away.Anyone w...

Read More >>

On Friday January 1, 2010 at approximately 11:25 AM the driver of a red 2008 GMC pickup truck ran a red light at E Beltway 8 N and was struck by a white 2006 Mack truck and semi-trailer.  The Mack truck and semi-trailer rolled over, striking two other vehicles.  The driver of the Mack truck died at the scene as a result of his injuries sustained...

Read More >>

Part of the Illinois River has been closed by the Coast Guard after a bridge allision with the Florence Highway Bridge near Florence, Illinois this weekend.  The Illinois River has been closed to all commercial and recreational traffic from mile marker 55.5 to mile marker 56.5 due to the allision. The 120-foot towing vessel Billy Waxler was push...

Read More >>

Jonathan S. Harris has been awarded the honor of Texas Rising Star for the second year in a row.  Mr. Harris was awarded this honor in both 2007 and 2008. In 1998, the publishers of Law & Politics and Super Lawyers launched Rising Stars in Minnesota to recognize the top up-and-coming attorneys in the state -- those who are 40 years old or young...

Read More >>

USCG  Visual Information GalleryCoast Guard crews are responding to a barge explosion that occurred at Superior Docks in Ingleside, Texas on Thursday. Two crewmembers were treated for minor injuries and released.  Bystanders rescued one man, who was thrown into the water when the barge exploded. A tugboat captain reported to the local Coast Gu...

Read More >>

As tsumani warnings become more rapid and more stringent, Hawaii urges all vessels and ground crew in the harbor areas to evacuate immediately.  Heavy warnings remain in effect along the coast of Central Chile after massive earthquakes have already shaken the country and around 50 aftershocks have continued to hammer its population.  This earthq...

Read More >>

OSHA has ordered the Illinois Central Railroad Co. and the Chicago, Central & Pacific Railroad to pay a former railroad employee more than $80,000 in back wages, compensatory damages and attorney's fees.  The employee alleged that the railroads terminated his employment in retaliation for reporting a work-related injury he sustained while perfor...

Read More >>

As many as 13 Indonesians went missing after the Singaporean ship Ocean Lark capsized on the South China Sea earlier this month.  The ship weighed 767 tons and sank on its voyage to to Pulau Matak, the oil exploration site of Conoco Phillips, Premiere Oil, and Star Energy. The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore and Indonesia's Rescue Sub-...

Read More >>

A woman was killed while crossing the street in downtown Houston last Thursday morning just before 11am on Travis and Rusk.  Police say a driver in a Mercedes SUV appeared to have run a red light, and 66 year-old Joyce R. Levine who was crossing the intersection was hit and died at the scene. Police say the victim had the right of way to cross ...

Read More >>

This week, the UK’s Health & Safety Executive (HSE) said that the total number of major injuries reported for offshore workers in 2008/2009 has dropped by 32%.  Under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 (as amended) (HSWA) HSE was created to support the United Kingdom Government's efforts to improve health and safety at work.  Its main a...

Read More >>

BREAKING NEWS -- SCHECHTER, MCELWEE, SHAFFER & HARRIS, LLP has settled a Jones Act injury case for $17,755,000!  The injuries sustained by our client included severe brain injuries resulting in persistent vegetative state.  After all costs are deducted, the plaintiffs received cash and the funding of an annuity totaling $13,213,820.  The result ...

Read More >>

Russian authorities are promising tough action against a riverboat operator after a deadly boat accident in the Volga River that has left more than 100 people dead.     The boat capsized on Sunday.  73 people have been confirmed dead.  Dozens more, including children are still missing.  Hopes for more survivors have been dimming.   The dead ...

Read More >>

Allstate Insurance Company is suing a family-owned, Houston-based tow truck company for deceptive business practices.  The company, an automobile towing, storage and repair company leads a list of seven defendants accused of over-charging for routine tow services and disassembling vehicles belonging to unsuspecting accident victims. The charges...

Read More >>

A local Austin, Texas party turned chaotic when the balcony of an apartment complex collapsed this weekend, injuring at least 23 people.  The party-goers at the Garden Court Condominiums were thrown to the ground after a second-floor balcony collapsed.  The second-story balcony was attached to a three-story townhouse.  The Austin balcony was lar...

Read More >>

This week, federal railroad officials unveiled regulations for equipping the nation's freight and passenger trains with automated braking systems.  The federal rules were enacted to ensure the safety and reliability of freight, commuter and intercity passenger rail routes.  These rules regulate the design and installation of train technology tha...

Read More >>

An injured 47-year-old man was evacuated Sunday from a 92-foot tugboat at the entrance of the St. Johns River near the Mayport jetties, according to the Coast Guard. Andy Syska was rescued from the vessel Peggy Winslow by Coast Guard lifeboat crew after a distress call from the tug was radioed about 7 p.m. Syska was in severe pain from a leg i...

Read More >>

If you have not paid a citation after being caught on camera running a red light, you better pay up soon!  A grace period for Houston, Texas drivers will end this coming weekend. Vehicle owners were given a 60-day grace period to pay fines and other past-due penalties, and those 60 days are about to expire. 77,800 letters have been mailed to r...

Read More >>

A tugboat pilot convicted in the July 2010 crash of a barge and tour boat that left two Hungarian tourists dead said in a deposition that the collision could have been avoided if he had been at his post. Matt Devlin, who is serving a one-year sentence for the maritime equivalent of involuntary manslaughter, was on a cellphone for a family emerg...

Read More >>

SMSH Partner Jonathan S. Harris was selected as a Texas Personal Injury Plaintiff's Lawyer Rising Star by Super Lawyers.  This is Jonathan's fourth year in a row to be chosen for this honor.  Rising Stars is a listing of top lawyers who are 40 years old and younger who have been in practice 10 years or less.  Candidates are selected by nominatio...

Read More >>

Camila Peixoto Bandeira, 28, was found Sunday in her cabin murdered while working on board the MSC Musica while it was in Port of Santos in Brazil.  This Port has a wide variety of cargo handling terminals and serves as Brazil's leading port in container traffic and has the 39th position in container traffic in the world.The Panamanian-flagged M...

Read More >>

The Israeli Air Force and Navy continued searches over the weekend for seven missing crewmen of an Israeli-owned trade ship that capsized off the coast of Cyprus overnight Friday. Video footage shows an Israeli military operation staged to rescue five sailors stranded at sea.  IAF helicopters evacuated these five Ukrainian sailors who were found...

Read More >>

A massive fire at a chemical plant in Waxahachie was about 90 percent contained, fire Chief David Hudgins said Monday afternoon. There were no reports of injuries. Waxahachie fire officials warned of possibly toxic fumes and smoke from the Magnablend plant, and emergency officials were wearing protective suits. Billowing black smoke at the plan...

Read More >>

The U.S. Coast Guard on Monday continued to search for six missing fishermen after receiving a mayday call Sunday from the captain of a sinking ship. The call to the U.S. Coast Guard’s Houston-Galveston operations center cam about 1:15 p.m. and said the boat was taking on water. The captain was unable to report the vessel’s exact location, but ...

Read More >>

The barge Soledad II capsized Tuesday near the Playa La Mare and Carelmapu coast in Region X.  Ten boats and seven land vehicles are still searching for missing passengers who were onboard. The bodies of Alicia Guerrero, 38, and Solange Quevado, 3, were found in the Playa La Mare in Maullin Wednesday, along with two life jackets.Soledad II was s...

Read More >>

A Houston-bound cargo ship caught fire in the Caribbean off Venezuela's coast Friday, killing nine crew members and injuring five others.  The crew members were in the mess hall when the fire started.  The Greek-owned Aegean Wind had a fire break out in the mess hall when the ship was about 100 miles north of Venezuela.  The Aegean Wind has a 24...

Read More >>

Coast Guard Air Station Houston medevaced a man from a tank ship approximately 57 miles off the Galveston coast, Tuesday. A crewmember aboard the Greek flagged tank ship Delta Tolmi reported that a 34-year old male aboard was experiencing acute abdominal pain.  An Air Station Houston MH-65C Dolphin helicopter and crew was launched to the ship’s...

Read More >>

The United States Coast Guard continues to search for a male cruise ship crewmember from the Pacific Venus.  The 24-year-old crewmember was reported overboard on Saturday after he failed to show up for work.  At that time, the ship turned around to look for the man overboard. The 550-foot cruise ship was located in the Northwestern Hawaiian Isl...

Read More >>

Two vessels collided near the Texas City Dike on Tuesday morning, shutting down a portion of the Houston Ship Channel. Both boats were deep-draft motor vessels, said a U.S. Coast Guard spokesperson. No injuries, damage or pollution were reported as a result of the accident, which happened just after 8 a.m. The vessels were anchored where the c...

Read More >>

Barbara McAllister Engineer Suffers Leg InjuryNEW YORK - A Coast Guard crew and local first responders worked together to rescue an injured tugboat crewmember near Kingston, N.Y., today Jan. 4, 2011.   An engineer aboard the tug Barbara McAllister reportedly suffered a leg injury and was stuck in the engine room while en route to Albany, N.Y.,...

Read More >>

Matt Shaffer has been named as a "Top Lawyer" by HTexas Magazine for the 5th straight year

Read More >>

Two recent Texas Motorcycle Accidents have sadly claimed the lives of two men in their 50's.Frank Lynn Merton, 53, died at University Medical Center after he lost control of his motorcycle on a turn on the Texas Tech Parkway in North Lubbock.  His motorcycle left the road, coming to rest in the parkway's grass median.  Merton was not wearing a h...

Read More >>