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When Seafarers are hurt by their employer
The Jones Act provides protection to seamen employed in the service of a vessel. Jones Act seaman are defined as “an individual (except scientific personnel, a sailing school instructor, or a sailing school student) engaged or employed in any capacity on board a vessel.” (46 USC Section 10101(3)).
In determining whether an individual qualifies as a seaman under the Act, courts look to whether the individual’s work contributes to a function of the ship or the accomplishment of the vessel’s objectives or missions. Courts also consider the duration and nature of the individual’s connection to the vessel.
Under the Jones Act, the ship owner or cruise line must provide the seaman with a reasonably safe place to work, must use routine care to maintain and keep the vessel in a reasonably safe condition. The law requires the seaman to show that his or her employer’s negligence played any part, even a small part, in the seaman’s injuries. This burden of proof for causation is considerably less than your average negligence case.
To succeed in a Jones Act claim, the injured seaman must show that the owner or crew of the vessel for which the seaman worked was negligent, and that this negligence was a cause of the seaman’s injury. Under state and federal law, seamen are not entitled to workers’ compensation for work-related injuries. Many times, these injuries are the direct result of being overworked.
For example, cruise crew members work long hours and perform duties that can be physically exhausting and demanding. Depending on how hard a cruise line expects its employees to work, a seaman who is injured due to being overworked may have a successful argument for negligence under the Jones Act. Since causation is easier to prove in a Jones Act case, any evidence showing that being overworked led to the seaman’s injuries would be sufficient to prove causation.
Employer negligence is fairly broad under the Jones Act and can include a number of factors, including accidents caused by the employer’s negligence. The Act also allows seamen to sue the ship owner or cruise line for unseaworthiness or a dangerous or defective condition of the ship that causes injury.
Even if the failure to provide a safe work environment played a small part in how and why the seaman was injured, he or she may still have a successful claim for damages. Essentially, the injured seaman only needs to show that one negligent condition existed that played a part in his or her injury.
The Jones Act is a more employee-friendly law, meaning it puts the burden on the employer to ensure the vessel is reasonably safe. Some of these unsafe conditions can include:
If you or a loved one were injured on a cruise ship, yacht, cargo ship or sustained an injury at sea, contact an experienced maritime personal injury attorney at Delgado Trial Attorneys. Compensation under the Jones Act includes: lost wages, lost earning capacity, medical expenses, physical and/or psychological pain and suffering, and physical disability.
The maritime injury law firm of Delgado Trial Attorneys possess a skill set that few other maritime attorneys can claim. Specifically, their diverse professional experience including Raul G. Delgado II’s extensive experience defending insurance companies and the major cruise lines and preparing their trial strategies for years before beginning to represent accident victims in Florida and cruise ship passengers and crew members injured because of negligence. Coupled with Raul G. Delgado’s 44 years of personal injury experience fighting on behalf of injured accident victims throughout Florida, Delgado Trial Attorneys offers a combination of experience in all types of cruise ship personal injuries unlike any of their competitors.
This diverse experience allows our attorneys to effectively strategize and advocate for every client we represent. We have handled all types of cruise ship crewmember accidents over the years with a focus on slip, trip and falls, medical malpractice, FlowRider accidents, sexual assaults, Death on the High Seas, and more. Contact our law firm today for a free case evaluation. Virtual sign-ups available.
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