Maritime Attorneys and Maritime Lawyers Represent Injured Seamen and Offshore Drilling Rig Workers.

Maritime Lawyer

The Maritime Injury Lawyers at the Ogletree Abbott Law Firm represent injured seamen and offshore workers who deserve benefits under the Jones Act and General Maritime Law. Our maritime injury lawyers know how to get you the best possible medical care immediately after an injury. Don’t let your employer send you to a company doctor for medical treatment because company doctors are loyal to the employer not the employee. Do you want a doctor that wants to limit your medical treatment to save a few dollars for an employer? If company doctors don’t favor the company they get fired. Think about it.

The Maritime Injury Attorneys at Ogletree Abbott make sure that your maintenance and cure is started immediately and Ogletree Abbott is ready, willing and able to help you with your finances while your case is pending settlement. We can help with client loans and assuring doctors and specialists that their bills will be paid.

The principle of maintenance and cure requires a ship owner to both pay for an injured seaman’s medical treatment until maximum medical recovery (MMR) is obtained and provide basic living expenses until completion of the voyage, even if the seaman is no longer aboard ship. The seaman is entitled to maintenance and cure as of right, unless he was injured due to his own willful gross negligence. It is similar in some ways to workers’ compensation.

Call the Ogletree Abbott Maritime Injury Attorneys at 1-800-JonesAct and Get Help Today!

If you were injured aboard a “vessel” under the Jones Act definition of a “vessel” you are entitled to Jones Act benefits, which are usually much higher than Workers’ Compensation benefits or Longshore Harborworker benefits. Call the maritime injury attorneys at Ogletree Abbott and we will tell you how the benefits from all three laws compare in your specific situation. Do not accept what people say. Look at the law itself and get hard evidence in front of your eyes and check it out before you make any final decisions that will affect you for the rest of your life.

The Doctrine of Unseaworthiness makes a ship owner or offshore drilling rig owner liable if a seaman is injured because the ship, or any appliance of the ship, is “Unseaworthy,” meaning defective in some way. The Jones Act allows a sailor, or one in privity to him, to sue the ship owner in tort for personal injury or wrongful death, with trial by jury. The Jones Act incorporates the Federal Employers Liability Act (FELA), which governs injuries to railway workers, and is similar to the Coal Miners Act. A ship owner is liable to a seaman in the same way a railroad operator is to its employees who are injured due to the negligence of the employer. The statute of limitation is three years but there are some exceptions. Don’t assume anything. Instead, call a maritime injury lawyer at the Ogletree Abbott Law Firm.

Not every worker injured onboard a vessel is a “seaman” entitled to the protections offered by the Jones Act, doctrine of unseaworthiness, and principle of maintenance and cure. To be considered a seaman, a worker must generally spend 30% or more of his working hours onboard either a specific vessel or a fleet of vessels under common ownership or control. With few exceptions, all non-seamen workers injured over navigable waters are covered instead by the Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act, a separate form of workers’ compensation. You need a good maritime injury attorney like Bill Abbott at the Ogletree Abbott Law Firm to help you with every move so that there are no mistakes and that you don’t leave a penny on the table.

As soon as you realize you need a Maritime Injury Lawyer, call the Ogletree Abbott Law Firm at 1 800 Jones Act and ask some questions. Ask how we can make a difference in your particular situation. Don’t assume that your case is exactly like anyone else’s case. Only an experience Maritime Injury Attorney can accurately determine what your settlement should be. Don’t make the mistake of settling for pennies on the dollar because an employer cons you into thinking your job will be secure if you give up a significant settlement or award. We’ve heard from seamen and offshore drilling rig workers of settlements of $10,000 for a million dollar case and other ridiculous settlements made by good working men because the “trusted” their employer. You can trust us to do one thing, that is, to get you the maximum amount of money that the law allows. Call us and at least find out what you would have received if you had hired a good maritime lawyer.