Jones Act - River Workers & Seamen
As anyone who is familiar with the maritime industry is
aware, working on a vessel can be dangerous. Unfortunately thousands of maritime
workers are injured each year while performing their jobs, and many seamen lose
their lives. These maritime workers and their families are left without a way to
earn a living and pay their bills. Under United States maritime law, workers and
their families have rights to financial compensation if an injury or death
occurs while working.
Maritime injury claims fall under a very complex area of the
law. River workers’ rights generally fall under a law called the “Jones Act.”
The Jones Act is very similar to the federal laws covering railroad workers, and
in many areas the laws are identical. Jones Act law is very different from
workers compensation law. Under the Jones Act, an injured worker must prove that
his or her employer was negligent or at fault for the injury or death which
occurred, in order to recover damages.
The Jones Act generally protects seamen injured on all sorts
of vessels, such as large ships, barges, tug boats, cargo ships, tankers, and
even some riverboat casinos. Our experienced attorneys can help the worker or
his or her family ascertain the rights and remedies that may be available under
maritime law.
Gray, Ritter & Graham has decades of experience with the
federal statutes authorizing the recovery of damages for seamen and the river
workers injured or killed in the course of their employment. Listed below are
examples of cases GRG attorneys brought to a successful conclusion for our
clients.
Representative Cases
We treat the cases handled by GRG for our clients as
confidential, both as to the identity of our clients and the settlements or
verdicts achieved on their behalf. For this reason we have omitted client and
case names in our description of representative cases successfully handled by
GRG except when the case has received widespread publicity in the media.
We caution viewers that past results reported on this Web site afford no guarantee of future results. Every case is different and must be judged on its own merits.
Settlement for river worker injured as a result of
slippery conditions on deck of vessel in Southeast Missouri.
Settlement for river deckhand who injured his back as a
result of excessive lifting and inadequate assistance from fellow crew
members.
Verdict for deckhand with broken leg sustained on vessel
during towing operations.
Settlement for casino worker with severe hand injury,
caused by improper safety procedures.
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