Choosing an offshore accident lawyer is an important decision in your life as a maritime worker. It could mean the difference between a small injury payout and a substantial jury award or cash settlement in your favor. That’s why it’s vital to find an offshore accident lawyer who is skilled, experienced and knowledgeable in Jones Act law.
Under that 1920 federal law and the courtroom precedents established since then, injured seamen, sailors, maritime workers and offshore workers have a legal right to seek financial compensation for their losses if injured on the job. That includes workers on a mobile offshore oil rig or gas platform.
A Jones Act lawsuit in your behalf can be filed in federal court, which is to say a U.S. District Court for the area where the defendant resides or is based. That means your lawsuit might be tried in a court that isn’t near where you live, but rather where an employer or owner of a business has offices. But you also have a right to file in a state court, thanks to the Savings to Suitors clause of the U.S. Constitution.
Either way, keep in mind that most injury lawsuits — a clear majority, in fact — are handled through out-of-court settlements and not a trial. You may never have to appear in court.
Also, under the Savings to Suitors clause of the U.S. Constitution, as a maritime worker you have a legal right to file your Jones Act lawsuit in a state court instead.
To receive Jones Act protections, it’s imperative that an injured offshore worker can establish that he or she performed a function on board the ship, vessel, platform or rig which contributed to its mission. It’s also imperative to establish that the vessel or rig was aligned with another vessel or fleet of vessels, and that the accident occurred due to unseaworthiness of the vessel or negligence of the owner, captain or crew.
Also keep in mind that you need not sign anything to seek Jones Act protections. In fact, it’s advisable not to sign any document, particularly from your employer, until you’ve consulted a knowledgeable Jones Act lawyer who can act in your behalf.
Of course, you have other legal options for pursuing economic recovery for an offshore injury. These legal options can include Workers Compensation, as well as the Longshore Act. And for survivors of an offshore worker who dies on the job, a legal option is the Death on the High Seas Act, or DOHSA.
However, for various reasons none of these protections rate as highly as those of the Jones Act.
For one thing, financial recovery under the Jones Act tends to be significantly higher than that provided by other legal remedies. As a federal law, the Jones Act also offers a longer statute of limitations (three years) than do other legal protections.
Also, an offshore worker who pursues justice via the Jones Act has the legal right to seek economic compensation for many things. These include lost salary as a result of the injury; medical expenses necessitated by the injury; and the suffering and pain the worker had to endure as a result of the injury.
Suffering and pain, which has no formal monetary scale, is known as a non-pecuniary damage. Other legal options for offshore accidents, such as the Death on the High Seas Act, do not provide non-pecuniary damages. The Jones Act does.
Nor do DOHSA and Workers Compensation allow for an employee to sue an employer for injuries suffered on the job. The Jones Act does.
Offshore injury victims also can seek “maintenance and cure” from an employer. This legal option, provided by the Jones Act and by Maritime Law, involves payments made to an employee by an employer to cover daily living expenses while he or she cannot work (“maintenance”) and to cover necessary medical costs (“cure”).
However, such amounts may be very small compared to the cash settlement an injured worker can secure via Jones Act protections — and an experienced Jones Act lawyer.
Indeed, many legal options await you if you’ve suffered an offshore accident injury. And one way to start evaluating them is with help from a knowledgeable Jones Act attorney. That can come from Jim S. Adler & Associates, a veteran Texas law firm in which thousands of Texans have placed their trust for more than 30 years.
Notify Jim “the Texas Hammer” Adler of your offshore accident injury case today, and launch the process of gaining your family’s financial security with a Jones Act lawsuit. Your best legal option may be your first: choosing an Adler offshore accident lawyer to lead your legal team.
To do so, notify the longtime law firm of your needs by submitting the free case review form above, or by calling 1-800-566-3434, toll-free. An Adler legal representative will respond promptly to help you with your case.