The laws governing boating accidents are complicated and different from those governing accidents that happen on land. You will need the help of a professional maritime or admiralty attorney to make sure that your claim is filed and investigated properly. If your accident included a corporate vessel, you can be certain that agents from that corporation will be on the scene immediately, trying to put the best spin on the accident and reduce their level of responsibility. In order to get the amount you need from insurance companies to cover injuries and damages, your best option is hiring a team of experienced Norfolk maritime injury lawyers, like the law firm of Rutter Mills.
In essence, the Jones Act provides a remedy for an injured seaman under maritime law against an employer for the injuries caused by negligent acts of the employer or co-workers during the course of employment on a vessel. This means that the employer must do something unreasonable or fail to perform a reasonable act that would have prevented injury in order for the seaman to win his claim. Claims brought under the Jones Act can also raise claims against a vessel's owner that a vessel was unseaworthy.
Seaman are the only people able to recover under the Jones Act. A seaman is a member of the crew of a vessel or someone who assigned to a vessel or a fleet of vessels. For example, those who work on tankers, freighters, jack-up rigs, semi-submersibles, towboats, tugboats, supply boats, crew boats, barges, lay barges and fishing vessels are members of the crew who are considered seamen, which also includes officers. Longshoremen, pilots and those who work on fixed platforms are not seamen. For these employees there is the Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act, designed for workers not helped under the Jones Act.
If a seaman is injured on a vessel, regardless of the fault of the vessel or its operators, the legal remedy they can receive is known as Maintenance and Cure. Maintenance is a small daily compensation designed to provide the food and shelter that would have been provided to the seaman while aboard the vessel. Normal maintenance rates can range from $10 to $35 per day. Cure is the obligation of the seaman's employer to provide medical treatment, prescription drugs, nursing services, hospitalization, rehabilitation and therapy, until the seaman reaches maximum medical improvement. Maximum medical improvement means that the seaman's condition will not improve any further or he is permanently disabled. When a seaman reaches maximum medical improvement, the vessel’s owner is no longer obligated to pay maintenance and cure, even if the seaman can or cannot return to work. If an employer refuses to pay maintenance and cure, the employer can be held liable for damages and attorneys' fees.
The vessel owner owes the seaman a strict and absolute duty to provide a seaworthy vessel. A seaworthy vessel is one that is reasonably fit for its intended use; it should be a safe place to work and live. A seaworthy vessel should contain appropriate safety gear and equipment, safe recreation facilities and a competent crew. The duty owed to a seaman is more rigorous than the seaworthiness promised in a contract for the carriage of marine cargo. In addition to holding a seaman's employer responsible for the negligent acts of its employees and officers, a seaman can recover if he can prove that the vessel was unseaworthy and that he was injured as a result.
A vessel is unseaworthy if a piece of equipment breaks or is inoperable, if the vessel's crew is too small or incomplete, or not adequately trained, or if a condition such as oil, grease or rust exists where it is not intended to exist and the unseaworthy condition is a direct cause of injury to the seaman. In other words, negligence focuses on acts of the seaman's employer, and unseaworthiness focuses on the condition or inadequacy of the vessel itself. Unlike the Jones Act claims, which is against the seaman's employer, an unseaworthiness claim is made against the vessel's owner. In many cases those actions will be against the same party. A unseaworthiness claim will bring the owner into a lawsuit as an additional source of recovery for the seaman. As with the Jones Act, an unseaworthiness claim must be filed within three years of the injury, and must be combined with a Jones Act claim.
The Statute of Limitations in a Jones Act case is generally three (3) years from the date of the injury. There are exceptions to this general rule, such as seaman assigned to vessel owned, operated, or contracted by the United States government. Actions against the vessel owner for unseaworthiness, must also be brought within three (3) years from the date of the seaman's injury.
There are other situations in which a Jones Act cause of action or lawsuit is not the best choice of remedies or cause of action available to an injured seaman. In those situations the injury and the applicable facts may be governed under a statute of limitations as short as one year from the date of the negligent act in question. It is for this reason alone to see a maritime lawyer as soon as possible to investigate the facts of your case. Some of the legal damages an injured worker can recover under the Jones Act are past loss of income, future loss of income, medical expenses, pain and suffering.
The dedicated and skilled maritime lawyers at Rutter Mills have handled thousands of cases for clients all over the eastern United States and won very substantial settlements. Our Virginia maritime lawyers have the experience and the passion necessary to get you what you need. Located in Norfolk and Newport News, Virginia, we have had clients come to us from as far away as Texas and Maine. When you make the decision to have the law firm of Rutter Mills work on your behalf, you are getting more than legal aid. We become part of your family, putting all of our skills into helping you get your life back. If you have been injured on the water contact the admiralty attorneys of Rutter Mills—where personal injuries get personal attention.