Jones Act and Maritime Injury Lawyers

The Jones Act is a law enacted by Congress that provides protection to persons who are members of the crew of a vessel. This law applies to inland river workers as well as offshore workers who work on jackups, semi-submersibles, barges, drill ships or other floating, movable structures, tugs/towboats, crew boats, tankers, cargo ships, fishing vessels, chemical ships, research vessels, diving vessels and cruise and recreational ships.

What is the Jones Act

Jones Act and Maritime injury lawyers The Jones Act is an Act of Congress which governs the liability of vessel operators and marine employers for the work-related injury or death of an employee. It is a federal cause of action, meaning that the United States Congress intended for all seamen's injuries throughout the nation to be guided by the same liability standards. Although the Jones Act protects seamen, it is not the same as worker's compensation. It does not require payment regardless of fault. In order for a worker to recover under the Jones Act, a worker must prove some negligence or fault on the part of the vessel's owners, operators, officers and/or fellow employees or by reason of any defect in the vessel, its gear, tackle or equipment. The Jones Act provides an injured seaman a remedy against his/her employers for injuries arising from negligent acts of the employer or co-workers during the course of employment on a vessel. This means that the employer must do something unreasonable or fail to perform a reasonable act that would have prevented injury in order for the seaman to win his/her claim.

Who is a seaman

One of the central questions in any maritime injury case is whether the injured party is a seaman, since only a seaman can recover under the Jones Act. A seaman is a member of the crew of a vessel or someone who is assigned to a vessel or a fleet of vessels. Officers and crew are all considered seamen. Longshoremen, pilots and those who work on fixed platforms are not seamen, but have other maritime remedies available for injuries.

The essential requirements for seaman status are:

An employee's duties must contribute to the function of the vessel or to the accomplishment of its mission
A seaman must have a connection with a vessel in navigation (or to an identifiable group of such vessels), that is substantial in terms of both its duration and its nature
The duration of a worker's connection to a vessel and the nature of the worker's connection to a vessel and the nature of the worker's activities, taken together, determine whether a maritime worker is a seaman because the ultimate inquiry is whether the worker in question is a member of the vessel's crew or simply a land-based employee who happens to be working on a vessel at a given time
A distinction must be made between sea-based workers and land-based workers who have only a transitory or sporadic connection to a vessel in navigation. Land-based maritime workers do not become seamen because they happen to be working aboard a vessel when they are injured, and seamen do not lose Jones Act protection where the course of their service to a vessel takes them ashore. In evaluating the employment-related connection of a maritime worker to a vessel in navigation, courts should not employ a "snapshot" test for seamen status, inspection only the situation as it exists at the instant of injury but rather, the total circumstances of an individual's employment must be weighted to determine whether he/she has a sufficient relation to the vessel

Jones Act coverage (seaman status) depends not on the place where the injury is inflicted, but on the nature of the seaman's service, his/her status as a member of the vessel and his/her relationship as such to the vessel and its operation in navigable waters.

Jones Act Maintenance and Cure

If a seaman becomes injured on a vessel, regardless of the fault of the vessel or its operators, his/her legal remedy is called maintenance and cure. Maintenance is a small daily compensation designed to provide the food and shelter that would have been provided to the seaman while aboard the vessel. Maintenance rates range from $15 - $50 per day. Cure is the obligation of the seaman's employer to provide medical treatment, prescription drugs, nursing services, hospitalization, rehabilitation and therapy until the seaman reaches maximum medical improvement. Maximum medical improvement means that the seaman's condition will not improve any further or he/she is permanently disabled. When a seaman reaches maximum medical improvement, the vessel owner's obligation to pay maintenance and cure ceases, regardless of whether the seaman can return to work or not. The seaman has a right to his choice of physicians and does not have to accept treatment by his employer's choice of physician. If an employer refuses to pay maintenance and cure, the employer can be held liable for damages and attorney fees.

Unseaworthiness Claim

The vessel owner owes the seaman a strict and absolute duty to provide a seaworthy vessel. A seaworthy vessel is one that is reasonably fit for its intended use, it should be a safe place to work and live. A seaworthy vessel should be equipped with appropriate safety gear and equipment, safe recreation facilities and a complete crew. The duty owed to a seaman is more rigorous than the seaworthiness promised in a contract for the carriage of marine cargo. In addition to holding a seaman's employer responsible for the negligent acts of its employees and officers, a seaman can recover if he/she can prove that the vessel was un seaworthy and that he/she was injured as a result.

A vessel that is un seaworthy does not mean that it is in danger of sinking. A vessel is unseaworthy if a piece of equipment breaks or is inoperable, the vessel's crew is too small or incomplete, not adequately trained or a condition such as oil, grease or rust exists where it is not intended to exist and the un seaworthy condition is a direct cause of injury to the seaman. In other words, negligence focuses on acts of the seaman's employer and un seaworthiness focuses on the condition or inadequacy of the vessel itself. Unlike the Jones Act claims, which is against the seaman's employer, an unseaworthiness claim is made against the vessel's owner. In many cases those actions will be against the same party. An unseaworthiness claim will bring the owner into a lawsuit as an additional source of recovery for the seaman.

Jones Act Statute of Limitations

The statute of limitations is generally three (3) years from the date of the injury. There are exceptions to this general rule such as seaman assigned to vessels owned, operated or contracted by the United States government.

Jones Act and Maritime Damages

An injured worker under the Jones Act may seek to recover the following damages:

Wages lost from the time of the injury to the time of trial
Wage loss in the future
Medical expenses in the past and in the future
Pain, suffering, disfigurement and mental anguish in the past and in the future

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