Maritime Injuries / Boating Accidents
Those who are employed as crew aboard boats and ships and are injured in that service have special rights and remedies under admiralty law. There is no workers compensation system such as exists in shore-based employment-related injuries, but a shipboard employee who qualifies as a seaman under the Jones Act retains the right to sue employers and co-workers. There is a whole system of law that concerns the rights and remedies of seamen injured in the service of a vessel. The special rights of a seaman include:
1) Your wages to the end of the voyage. The time period for a voyage is of great importance. The length of the voyage is somewhat easier to determine for seagoing vessels than for coastwise vessels. Often owners attempt to limit the length of a voyage on coastwise vessels, as is commonly seen aboard fishing vessels when the owners usually attempt to enforce language in the articles defining the voyage as “trip to trip.” It can make a great difference to an injured fisherman whether he or she is entitled to pay based on a percentage of the catch only for the trip during which the injury occurred or to the end of the season, as uninjured crew are likely to enjoy.
2) Maintenance. An injured seaman has the right to maintenance during recovery from an injury suffered in the service of the vessel. Maintenance is a daily amount meant to defray the cost of bed and board. Its historical basis is the seaman’s entitlement to an amount that would substitute for the quarters and provisions aboard the vessel while the seaman was stranded ashore during injury. Often the maintenance rate is called out in the seaman’s articles. Often the stated amount is unreasonably low. One of the jobs of the admiralty lawyer representing an injured seaman is to address unreasonably low maintenance rates with the owner and, if necessary, apply to the court to have it set a reasonable maintenance rate based on the expenses of living actually incurred by the injured seaman. Generally, the seaman’s right to maintenance is coextensive with the right to payment of medical bills, which is known as the seaman’s right to cure.
3) Cure. An injured seaman has the right to have the owner pay the costs of medical care until the seaman recovers to the point that further treatment will no longer improve the medical condition or injury suffered. Except in extreme cases, the seaman’s right to cure is without regard to fault; that is, even if the seaman is injured though his or her own fault, the owner must pay for medical care, just as the owner must pay the seaman’s maintenance during recovery.
In addition to these special rights, seamen can recover for their pain, suffering and disability caused by an injury suffered in the service of the vessel. In general, unlike the seaman’s right to wages, maintenance and cure, recovery of these damages depends on proving fault on behalf of the vessel’s owner, officers and/or crew that caused the injury. Again, admiralty law has its own rules that apply to recovery of such damages. Two of the most important of these are rules that apply when the seaman is injured due to an unseaworthy condition of the vessel and/or due to the negligence of the vessel’s owner, officers or crew.
Unseaworthiness. Under the general maritime law, a ship owner or operator has an unqualified, nondelegable duty to all who qualify as seamen under the Jones Act to provide a vessel that is reasonably fit for its intended purpose. The owner or operator is strictly liable to a Jones Act seaman for injuries caused by an unseaworthy condition. An unseaworthy condition may arise from a defect or fault in the vessel, its equipment or its crew.
Jones Act Negligence. A seaman’s employer owes the seaman a duty under the Jones Act to provide the seaman with a safe place to work and with equipment and appliances that are reasonably fit for the safe performance of the task at hand and for the work to be done. If the seaman’s employer fails in this duty and such negligence played even the slightest part in producing the seaman’s injury, the employer can be held liable.
In general, the rules relating to unseaworthiness and Jones Act negligence are more favorable for seamen than land based negligence rules are for a typical plaintiff claiming injury.
Wrongful Death. Certain survivors of persons killed at sea may recover damages from those who caused the death. Those who may be eligible to sue include surviving spouses, children, parents and next of kin and/or dependent relatives. There are competing laws, the application of which depends on who was killed, where they were killed, how they were killed and who killed them. Eligible survivors of those killed at sea may have differing rights to recovery of damages under state wrongful death and survival laws, the Death on the High Seas Act, general maritime law, the Jones Act, the Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act or the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act depending on which laws apply and in what combinations they may apply.
When a maritime injury occurs, it is important that the injured person or the survivors of one who has been killed know where they stand and that their interests be protected. If you or someone you love has been injured due to a maritime injury, please contact the Tacoma based attorneys of Rush, Hannula, Harkins & Kyler, L.L.C. at 866-454-RHHK(7445) or (253) 383-5388 or click here to submit a simple case form. Our initial consultation is free of charge and if we accept your case, we only get paid for our services if you receive monetary compensation.
