Offshore Cases
Maritime Claims and Areas of Practice
William Gee has substantial experience representing individuals in all of the following types of maritime claims and areas of law:
- Jones Act and Seaman Claims
- Claims against Vessel Owners under the Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act
- Commercial Diving Accidents
- Drilling and Other Offshore Accidents
- Barge Accidents
- Boat and Vessel Accidents
You can read more about all of these areas of maritime law and the rights and remedies workers and other individuals have under those laws in our Maritime Law and Questions? sections.
Jones Act and Seaman Claims
The Jones Act is a federal law that provides potential remedies to injured seamen against their employers if they were injured while working in the service of their employer's vessel. Under the Jones Act, the employer of a seaman may be liable for damages, including pain and suffering, if it fails to furnish an injured seaman with a safe place to work. Because the Jones Act does not define "seaman," determining who is a Jones Act seaman can often be a complicated legal question. Generally, a "seaman" is a member of a vessel's crew who is exposed to the "perils of the sea" as part of his employment. A seaman is someone who contributes to the mission or work of the vessel or watercraft and who has a substantial connection to a particular vessel or fleet of vessels. One rule of thumb test for whether an individual is a Jones Act seaman is whether the person worked 30% of his time aboard a "vessel in navigation."
Employers often fight Jones Act seaman status in litigation because seamen are considered protected "wards of the court" and potentially are entitled to types of compensation not available to other types of employees or workers. For example, most workers are not entitled to pain and suffering damages from their employers. And, even if there is no fault or negligence, a Jones Act employer must provide "maintenance and cure" to a seaman who is hurt while in the service of the employer's ship or vessel. Maintenance and cure provides benefits to an injured seaman much like health and accident insurance. There are penalties as well if an employer does not provide an injured seaman with maintenance and cure benefits.
William Gee has litigated the "Jones Act seaman" question many times and monitors the Jones Act case law as it is handed down so that he is knowledgeable of the most recent developments in the maritime law on the seaman status issue.
What types of watercrafts are considered Jones Act vessels is also an issue in which the law is frequently changing and currently expanding, such that individuals who may not have previously been considered Jones Act seamen may now be.
Learn more about the Jones Act, seaman status, maintenance and cure, and other remedies available to an injured seaman, including under the law of unseaworthiness, in our Maritime Law section.
Claims against Vessel Owners under the Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act
Many persons are engaged in maritime-related employment but are not considered seamen. For example, longshoremen, shipbuilders, ship repairers, and others who perform land-based types of work (such as welding) on or over water are considered to be performing maritime work but are not considered to be seamen. Instead of having remedies under the Jones Act against their employers, such workers often must rely on another federal law, the Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act (LHWCA).
The LHWCA is similar to state-law workers' compensation and provides injured maritime employees with workers' compensation remedies against their employers for work-related personal injuries. The LHWCA usually applies to workers injured on piers, wharfs, shipyards, and drilling platforms. Although the LHWCA typically limits a worker's remedies against his employer to disability benefits and medical benefits, if the non-seaman was injured while working on a vessel, the LHWCA sometimes permits a claim against the vessel owner for liability and damages under general maritime law.
Commercial Diving Accidents
In addition to the risks and dangers all maritime workers face, commercial divers face additional hazards associated with malfunctioning dive equipment, improper vessel operations over which they have little to no control and inappropriate medical treatment caused by lack of knowledge of dive medicine. Although commercial divers are often covered by the Jones Act and entitled to a seaman's remedies, this is an unsettled and complex area of maritime and admiralty law where dive contractors and vessel owners have had some success in defeating Jones Act seaman status with respect to divers. In cases where the Jones Act does not apply to a commercial diving accident, general maritime law may provide a claim for damages against a boat or its crew. In some cases, however, a commercial diver may only have remedies under the LHWCA.
Drilling and Other Offshore Accidents
Offshore drilling activities, although crucial to our country and economy, inevitably result in accidents and injuries. Simply put, oil fields are dangerous places to work, and defective machinery, toxic fumes, explosions, and rigging accidents can all cause serious injuries or result in death. Although not all rigs are considered Jones Act vessels, if an individual was injured while working on a movable drilling rig, such as a jack-up rig, that worker may be a Jones Act seaman, who potentially is entitled to damages, if negligence, or an unseaworthy condition caused injury. A seaman also is typically entitled to maintenance and cure, if for an on-the-job injury.
Barge Accidents
Barge crewmen and workers are subject to many of the same risks and dangers as other offshore workers. Injuries from barge accidents are often caused by negligent and inattentive vessel operators as well as unseaworthy conditions, such as defective equipment or poorly-trained crew members. Workers on barges are generally covered by the same laws and provided the same remedies as other offshore and maritime workers.
Boat and Vessel Accidents
In addition to maritime and offshore workers' claims against their employers for injuries, non-employment related and recreational boat accidents occur frequently, both in territorial state waters and on the high seas. Negligence claims arising from these types of vessel and boating accidents are usually covered by general maritime law. If a death occurs at sea, maritime laws provide surviving members of the victim's family potential remedies, under Death on the High Seas Act, Jones Act, or general maritime law; if the related incident occurs in state waters, state law may supplement the maritime law.