If you find yourself asking whether you need a maritime injury attorney, the answer is most likely yes. Maritime and offshore accidents involve different sets of laws than other personal injury or workers’ compensation claims. Depending on the case, there is often a complex framework of federal, state, and sometimes international laws that govern an injured claimants’ rights. Those laws include the Jones Act, the Longshoremen and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act, the Limitation on Liability Act, and federal general maritime law. To exercise your full rights under these laws, it is crucial to have an attorney with the experience and understanding necessary to navigate a maritime injury claim.
If you or a loved one has been seriously injured or killed while aboard a vessel, crew boat, barge, tanker, fishing boat, offshore drilling rig, oil platform, or any other type of ship, your rights to recovery are likely dependent on having a lawyer capable of presenting your case within the proper maritime law framework. Abraham, Watkins, Nichols, Agosto, Aziz & Stogner is one of the oldest, most experienced personal injury law firms in Texas. If you are ever in need of a skillful maritime attorney, contact us for a free consultation. We will never charge you a fee unless we are successful in recovering on your behalf.
If you have recently suffered a maritime injury, here are a few important steps to protect your claim:
(1) Fill out an accident or incident report as soon as possible after your injury. Ask witnesses to fill out incident reports as well.
(2) If your injury makes you unable to work, then do not work. Offshore workers are resilient by nature, but you will complicate and make your case more difficult if you force yourself to work when you truly cannot.
(3) Do not give a recorded statement without first seeking legal counsel.
(4) Seek out your own doctor for treatment-do not accept a company doctor’s word that you are uninjured or can return to work.