1.800.282.2122
Our experienced team of maritime lawyers represent injured seamen and have done so for over 40 years. We are familiar with offshore injuries, maritime employers, and admiralty defense attorneys. Your maritime personal injury case will be handled expertly by our firm.

Maritime and Jones Act Workers Claims

Injured At Sea

Working on and around boats and rigs, you know the dangers that come along with your job. You took the job willingly and understand that it comes with inherent risks. However, it is the responsibility of your employer to minimize these risks. The list of injuries seamen and other maritime workers sustain is long. However, the following make up the most serious injuries sustained while working at sea:

  • Crushed finger, arm, leg or foot
  • Deep cut or laceration
  • Broken finger, hand, arm, leg, foot or back
  • Drowning or near drowning
  • Torn muscles or ligaments
  • Traumatic brain injury
  • Injured back and/or neck, including herniated discs and strains

 

These injuries can end the career of a sailor, seaman, or any other maritime worker. Due to the physical demands of working at sea, severe injuries to the hands, arms, legs or back can be catastrophic. Unable to work, you and your family may struggle to get by. If you have been injured, you do not have to wait for your insurance company to settle your claim or for your employer to give you the compensation you deserve. You need a team of professionals to fight for your rights. At Schechter, McElwee, Shaffer & Harris, L.L.P. we have over 100 years of combined experience in Maritime/Jones Act cases.

 

We Fight to Protect Your Rights

At SMSH we work to protect every person injured while working at sea. We specialize in Jones Act/Seaman’s Injuries and are ready to help you if you have been hurt. The following is a list of the diverse groups of people we represent:

  • Seaman
  • Rig and Platform Workers
  • Barge Workers and Crews
  • Jack-up Rig Workers and Crews
  • Supply Boat Workers and Crews
  • Tankers, Freighter & Other Ocean Going Crews
  • Offshore Platform Workers

Maritime/Jones Act Workers Claims

Maritime/Jones Act Worker claims, Longshoreman 3rd Party Claims and Seaman’s Wage Claims are complicated and often difficult cases to prove. In addition, you only have a small window of time to act on a claim. If you miss this window your case will hold little to no value, leaving you without the help you need. At SMSH, we act swiftly to bring you the relief you need.

Responsible for Your Safety

Your employer is responsible for ensuring that your workplace is as free from hazards as possible. The following is a list of events and oversights that often lead to unnecessary injuries:

  • Falling overboard
  • Slippery decks
  • Unsecured loads
  • Collisions
  • Lifting, pulling, or falling injuries
  • Injuries sustained while boarding or leaving a vessel or rig

Many of the injuries and deaths resulting from the above could have been prevented: if only proper procedure was taken, if only the equipment was well maintained, if only your supervisor was doing his job. These if only’s can cost you your career. It is not fair to let your employer put your life at risk. If you or someone you know has been injured at sea, please contact the legal team of Schechter, McElwee, Shaffer & Harris, L.L.P.


Throughout the Gulf of Mexico, the coastal regions of Texas, Louisiana, Georgia, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida, and on inland waters, on-the-job injuries and deaths occur too often. Offshore workers routinely suffer injuries caused by dangerous conditions.

The Jones Act protects crew members of a vessel in the event they are injured. This law applies to inland river workers and offshore crew members who work on jack-ups, semi-submersibles, barges, drill ships, tugs and towboats, crew boats, dredges, floating cranes, tankers, cargo ships, fishing vessels, chemical ships, research vessels, construction barges, diving vessels, cruise ships, recreational boats, and other floating or movable vessels.  Whether you are a seaman, an officer, a harbor pilot, an oil worker, a technician, a helicopter pilot, work on a tugboat, casino boat, barge, ship, supply boat, semi-submersible drilling rig, jack-up drilling rig or if you become injured on or near the water, you should talk to a maritime law attorney before making a claim or as soon as possible thereafter.

Our attorneys represent injured workers and their families in serious injury and wrongful death claims governed by the Jones Act and related laws.  If a member of your family has been seriously injured or killed as a result of a maritime accident or offshore injury, it is extremely important that you get legal advice before you contact the employer or its insurance company.  Representing injured seamen, sailors, and offshore workers has always been at the heart of our law practice.  Since the inception of SMSH, our attorneys have repeatedly obtained positive results for seamen with Jones Act and general maritime law claims.

Our maritime attorneys have won hundreds of cases covered by the Jones Act, Death on the High Seas Act (DOHSA), and Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act (LHWCA).

If you think you may have a maritime law claim, please call us at 1-800-282-2122. We are a maritime law firm and we will confidentially speak with you about your injury and answer your questions about maritime law.  No matter where you live, SMSH can help you get the help you need.

Gambling With Your Future

With your health and financial future on the line are you comfortable with just any lawyer? How do you know if the attorney you hire has what it takes to win your case? Our record speaks for itself. The attorneys at SMSH have won hundreds of maritime cases. We have the serious experience you need to help you win your serious injury case.

Though Schechter, McElwee, Shaffer & Harris, L.L.P. is based in Texas we handle personal injury cases throughout the United States. We handle cases in: Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, California, Oregon, Washington, Alaska, Hawaii, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana.

Blog for Maritime and Jones Act Workers Claims

Library for Maritime and Jones Act Workers Claims:

  • Jones Act Settlements   
    Description: A typical Jones Act settlement may include maintenance and cure payments, medical bills, lost wages, pain and suffering damages and other damages calculated by your maritime attorney. At Schechter McElwee Shaffer and Harris, we take on every case and prepare for it like we're going to trial. We know there is an overwhelming chance that your case may end at the settlement stage. However, we want our clients and their employers to know that we are ready to go to trial if the need arises. Employers know perfectly well which maritime lawyers prefer to settle quietly, and which ones are not afraid to take them to court. Guess which lawyers are better equipped to handle employers.
  • Jones Act Lawsuits   
    Description: Jones Act lawsuits offer legal remedies for seamen who are eligible under the Jones Act, to obtain compensation for their losses. In order to be eligible to file a Jones Act lawsuit, an injured seaman must be able to prove that he meets the definition of a seaman as laid down by the Jones Act. These lawsuits can be filed not only by injured workers, but also by the survivors of seamen killed on duty.
  • Jones Act Claims   
    Description: Only maritime workers, who meet the definition of a Jones Act seaman, are eligible to file Jones Act claims. Jones Act claims are filed against the worker's employer, or in case of unseaworthiness of the vessel, against the owner of the vessel. Jones Act claims differ from Workers' Compensation claims in one very vital aspect. Claims under the Jones Act require that your maritime lawyer show that your employer was negligent and this caused an injury, or failed to take precautions that would have prevented an injury. Workers' Compensation claims, on the other hand, do not require you to prove any kind of negligence on the part of the employer.
  • Maximum Medical Improvement (MMI)   
    Description: Maximum Medical Improvement (MMI) refers to a state beyond which an injured Jones Act seaman cannot be expected to recover physically.
    The concept of Maximum Medical Improvement is extremely important in the context of an injured Jones Act seaman. A seaman has the right to receive maintenance and cure payments from his employer during his injury. These payments must begin as soon as the injury occurs, and must continue until the seaman reaches a state of Maximum Medical Improvement, or a stage beyond which physicians do not expect him to recover.
  • General Maritime Law Claims of Unseaworthiness   
    Description: Theories of unseaworthiness allow an injured seaman to file a separate claim against the vessel owner under the Jones Act.
  • Jones Act Seaman   
    Description: A seaman may be any person who is employed at sea. However, for the purposes of the Jones Act, there are more criteria that must be met for a person to be determined as a seaman. For a seaman to qualify under the Jones Act, he must fulfill 3 essential criteria to qualify for status, and all the rights and privileges it includes.
  • Jones Act Vessel   
    Description: Determining questions of vessel status under the Jones Act can be as complicated as determining the status of a seaman. Broadly, the definition of a Jones Act vessel includes traditional vessels like tankers, freighters, cruise ships, barges and others that have been used on our oceans and rivers for centuries. However, the maritime industry has expanded greatly since 1920 when the Jones Act was passed.
  • Maintenance and Cure   
    Description: One of the most basic rights of a Jones Act seaman, laid down over centuries and cherished through generations of maritime tradition, is the right to maintenance and cure while a seaman is injured. Maintenance and cure rights refer to those rights that provide for the seaman's most immediate basic and medical needs after an injury. These rights kick as soon as the injury occurs, and will continue until the seaman reaches a state of maximum medical improvement (MMI), where he cannot be expected to improve any further.
  • The Jones Act, Part of The Merchant Marine Act   
    Description: The Jones act is part of the Merchant Marine Act of 1920, and addresses the rights of seamen injured on the job at sea. The Jones Act was designed primarily to offer relief to seamen, who were at a high risk of injury or death at sea. It only applies to seamen who meet eligibility criteria as laid down by the Act. Before the Merchant Marine Act was passed, a seaman's life was dramatically different from that we see today. Seamen were subject to ill treatment by their employers or masters, abused, and forced to work in filthy and unsafe work conditions. These workers had no recourse to justice in the event of an injury. Before the Jones Act came along, injuries were considered part of a seaman's life. Being injured, falling sick, or dying at sea were considered occupational hazards. Injured seamen could not hope to hold their employers accountable for negligent conditions contributing to the injury.
  • Our combined over 100 years of experience as litigating maritime lawyers has shown us that most maritime employers or offshore companies will place their injured workers under surveillance while they are off of work and under medical treatment   

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Frequent Questions for Maritime and Jones Act Workers Claims:

Case Results for Maritime and Jones Act Workers Claims:

Videos about Maritime and Jones Act Workers Claims:

Web Resources for Maritime and Jones Act Workers Claims:

  • International Maritime Bureau Live Maritime Piracy Report

    Description:

    The International Maritime Bureau Live Piracy Report displays all Piracy and Armed Robbery incidents reported to the IMB Piracy Reporting Centre.

    The International Maritime Bureau provides this free service to the seafarer: a 24-hour IMB Piracy Reporting Centre (PRC) in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.  The main objective of the PRC is to be the first point of contact for the shipmaster to report an actual or attempted attack or even suspicious movements thus initiating the process of response.  The main aim of the PRC is to raise awareness within the shipping industry, which includes the shipmaster, ship-owner, insurance companies, traders, etc, of the areas of high risk associated with piratical attacks or specific ports and anchorages associated with armed robberies on board ships.  If you wish to report an piratical incident or armed robbery please contact the 24-hour Piracy Reporting Centre at imbkl@icc-ccs.org or piracy@icc-ccs.org.

  • Which Ship for Which Cargo?

    Description:

    A ship is a ship is a ship... or is it? There are dozens of different ship types, all specially customised to the type of cargo needing transportation. A cargo of crude oil, with its heavy, toxic and free flowing properties, will need totally different carriage conditions to a car, for example. Frozen food needs refrigerated carriage and is transported by a completely different ship to wine, just as live animals have very diverse needs to cut flowers.


    This section will describe the different ships used throughout the business and the wide and varied cargoes that they can carry.

  • Tips for Injured Seamen

    Description:

    Information for members of a crew of a vessel in navigation who are injured while working offshore.

  • Maternity Rights for Women Seafarers

    Description:

    Maternity rights for women seafarers can differ widely. This link provides a brief guide based upon the flag of the vessel on which they serve.

  • US Coast Guard Marine Information Exchange - Search for Vessel Information

    Description: The Port State Information eXchange (PSIX) system contains vessel specific information derived from the United States Coast Guard's Marine Information Safety and Law Enforcement System (MISLE). The information contained in PSIX represents a weekly snapshot of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) data on U.S. flag vessels, foreign vessels operating in U.S. waters, and Coast Guard contacts with those vessels.

  • Division of Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation (DLHWC)

    Description: The mission of DLHWC is to minimize the impact of employment injuries and deaths on employees and their families by ensuring that workers' compensation benefits provided under the Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act and it extensions (including the Defense Base Act) are paid promptly and properly, and providing information, technical and compliance assistance, support, and informal dispute resolution services to workers, employers, and insurers.

  • Minerals Management Service

    Description: MMS’s mission is to manage the ocean energy and mineral resources on the Outer Continental Shelf and Federal and Indian mineral revenues to enhance public and trust benefits, promote responsible use, and realize fair value.

  • American Institute of Marine Underwriters - Member Listing
  • Admiralty Law - An Overview

    Description: Admiralty law or maritime law is the distinct body of law (both substantive and procedural) governing navigation and shipping. Topics associated with this field in legal reference works may include: shipping; navigation; waters; commerce; seamen; towage; wharves, piers, and docks; insurance; maritime liens; canals; and recreation. Piracy (ship hijacking) is also an aspect of admiralty.

  • Maintenance & Cure: How It Differs From Workers’ Compensation

    Description: Maintenance and cure, a right that seamen have under general maritime law, is a daily living amount that is paid to the injured employee along with their medical expenses. But how does maintenance and cure differ from a workers’ compensation scheme?

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3200 Travis Street
3rd Floor
Houston TX 77006
Phone: 713.524.3500
Fax: 713.751.0412
Toll Free: 800.282.2122
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