Q. What is the Jones Act?
A. Also called the Merchant Maritime Act, the Jones Act is a federal maritime law named after the man who wrote it in 1920, Sen. Wesley R. Jones of Washington state. It’s been revised since then, but it still protects the rights of injured seamen, sailors and maritime workers — and now even mobile offshore platform workers. If they’re injured on the job, and it happens on or near water, they can file a lawsuit in federal court to be compensated for their losses, or may choose the option of filing in a state court. During this process they also can claim “maintenance and cure,” which means daily expenses and medical costs paid by their employer. To secure these rights, it’s important that injured workers get an experienced Jones Act lawyer who knows the law backwards and forwards to advance their case. Jones Act protections are strong, but the law is complex and needs a legal pro to handle it.
Q. If I’m injured on a maritime job and file a lawsuit, do I have a right to a jury trial?
A. Under the Jones Act, you do have a right to a jury trial. You do not have such a right to a jury trial under Admiralty Law, which is also known as Maritime Law. But under the Jones Act, also called the Merchant Marine Act, you have the right to a jury trial when suing your employer for negligence or unseaworthiness. In fact, it’s the Jones Act that gives you the right to sue your employer in the first place. You do not have that right if you’re relying on Workers Compensation. Of course, even if you are allowed a jury trial under the Jones Act, that doesn’t mean your case won’t be settled by out-of-court negotiations, as happens with many injury lawsuits.
Q. If I’m injured while working on an offshore oil or gas rig or platform, can I file an injury lawsuit against my employer under the Jones Act?
A. It depends on what kind of platform on which you worked. If it’s a platform or a rig that’s fixed to the ocean shore, then no, you are not covered by the Jones Act. But if it’s a mobile rig or platform, then you are. BP’s Deepwater Horizon oil platform, for instance, which blew up in the Gulf of Mexico, was a semi-submersible mobile offshore drilling unit, or MODU. Other MODUs are known as lay barges, drill ships and spar platforms. Courts also consider these to be SPVs, or “special purpose vessels.” Even so, if you worked on one of these and were injured, you still have to prove that the rig or platform had a substantial connection to a vessel or fleet, and that you contributed to its function or mission. That was decided by the U.S. Supreme Court’s Chandris, Inc. v. Latsis decision.
Q. If my loved one is killed in a maritime job, should I seek compensation based on the Jones Act, or the Death on the High Seas Act?
A. It depends on where the tragedy occurred. The Jones Act concerns maritime workers’ personal injuries or wrongful deaths in or on U.S. territorial waters. The Death on the High Seas Act, or DOHSA, concerns deaths beyond each state’s territorial limit of three nautical miles. However, DOHSA restricts recovery for victims’ survivors to economic — or pecuniary — losses only. It provides no money for non-economic losses such as mental anguish, pain and suffering, and loss of care, society and companionship. So Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV of West Virginia has introduced the Deepwater Horizon Survivors’ Fairness Act. It would allow high seas maritime claims beyond economic losses — a right already existing for victims of land-based accidents.
Q. What’s the difference between a Jones Act claim and a Workers Compensation or Longshore Act claim?
A. The Jones Act is a federal law giving injured maritime workers the right to seek very high cash payments for injuries caused by any unseaworthiness of a vessel or by the negligence of its captain, crew or owners. By contrast, individual states pass various Workers Compensation laws, and these state laws often offer small payments. The Longshore and Harbor Workers Compensation Act, also called the Longshore Act, provides benefits for workers who aren’t seamen but may instead be dock workers or others associated with ships. Unlike those protected by the Jones Act, these workers can’t claim unseaworthiness as a cause for a claim. The Supreme Court also has ruled that the Longshore Act supplements state Workers Comp laws but doesn’t take their place. Remember: Injured seamen must be careful not to apply Workers Comp or the Longshore Act hastily, because that may mean they forfeit the right to seek higher cash benefits via the Jones Act.
Q. Why should I hire a Jones Act lawyer or maritime lawyer?
A. You need to know your rights, and a Jones Act lawyer or maritime lawyer can determine them for you. One reason you need to know these rights is there’s a good chance your employer will try to minimize your injury claim, or get you to seek compensation in the wrong way. Your employer may resist letting you see a doctor, or your employer may try to get you to accept Workers Compensation or Longshore Act payments instead of using Jones Act protections. A Jones Act lawyer knows that’s not right, because you can get far more money for your injuries that way than with Workers Comp or the Longshore Act. Your Jones Act lawyer can represent you in dealing with employers, insurance companies and any others who want to downplay your injury when what you really need is full payment for what you deserve.
Q. What kinds of vessels are covered by the Jones Act?
A. Many different kinds of vessels are covered by the Jones Act. They include tug boats, supply boats, water taxis, shrimp boats, ferries, trawlers, riverboats, barges, tankers, semi submersible vessels, drill ships, jack-up rigs, mobile oil or gas rigs or platforms, container ships, cruise ships, fishing boats and charter boats. Also, workers who are injured or killed during transportation to or from an offshore oil rig or platform are covered by the Jones Act. A vessel also may be docked, but if a worker on board is injured, the Jones Act can cover it. Generally, if a vessel is on or near water, and if a seaman, sailor or maritime worker is injured on the job, then that person should be covered by the Jones Act.
Q. What kind of accidents or injuries are covered by the Jones Act?
A. Under the Jones Act, seamen, sailors or maritime workers have a legal right to seek financial compensation for injuries they suffered for two reasons: unseaworthiness of the vessel, or because of negligence by the vessel’s captain, crew or owners. Such injuries can happen because there’s faulty equipment on board a ship. They can happen because safety procedures weren’t followed properly. They can happen because the working environment was dangerous. And the injuries they cause can cover a wide range under the Jones Act, from broken bones to paralysis or amputation — even death. That’s why you need a Jones Act lawyer: to sort through the red tape and get your family what they deserve.
Q. If I file a Jones Act lawsuit, where will the case be tried?
A. Under federal Jones Act law, a Jones Act lawsuit may be tried in the United States district court for the area where the defendant or defendants are based or reside. But maritime workers also have the option of filing instead in a state court. In court, an injured maritime worker would be the plaintiff. The employer, crew member or ship owner being sued would be the defendant. There are 94 U.S. District trial courts in the federal court system. They can handle both civil matters — as in the case of a Jones Act lawsuit — and criminal matters. When a federal lawsuit targets one of the many energy companies or shipping companies based in Houston or the Port of Houston, for example, the court would be the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas. It’s located at 515 Rusk Street in downtown Houston.
Q. Where can I find an experienced and knowledgeable Jones Act lawyer to handle my case?
A. We’re glad you asked — because we have the answer. Contact veteran Texas injury law firm Jim S. Adler and Associates to handle your Jones Act injury needs. Thousands of injured Texas have been placing their trust in Jim S. Adler & Associates for more than three decades, and now you can too.
