If you have suffered an injury while working offshore, the Maritime Injury Law Firm can help you protect your financial future. Let experienced Mississippi maritime lawyers fight to get you the compensation you deserve.
Mississippi Offshore Injury Lawyer
Working on a boat can be quite lucrative, but it is often dangerous.
George represented me when I got injured working on a tow boat. The company was playing pretty rough with me, but George was able to get them to provide my medical care and got me a large settlement. If you work on boats, like I do, I recommend George Vourvoulias if you are looking for a lawyer who knows maritime law.
~ Curtis Watson, Lead Deckhand
Offshore workers in Mississippi are protected under the law.
Many workers injured offshore don’t know that they fall under a special classification under the law — one that has more protections than any other worker in the U.S. Seamen, or workers who spend a significant amount of time working as a crewmember or captain on a ship or boat in navigation, are considered wards of the courts. Their rights are to be jealously protected, just like the court protects the rights of children and widows.
In fact, any injury an offshore worker suffers in service of the ship does not qualify for workers’ compensation -- but that’s a good thing.
That’s because the protections afforded to you under maritime law are even better than workers’ compensation.
Seamen, or workers who spend a significant amount of time working as a crewmember or a captain on a ship or boat in navigation, are protected under a federal law called The Jones Act.
The Jones Act protects the rights of crewmen injured or taken ill in the course of their employment by requiring employers to provide safe working conditions and allowing offshore workers to sue their employer or the boat owner for damages when those conditions are not met.
What types of injuries and illnesses are protected?
There are many different types of workplace injuries that can entitle offshore workers in Mississippi to compensation, including:
- Slip and falls
- Falling overboard
- Repetitive use injuries
- Falling or shifting cargo
- Poorly secured equipment
- Chemical burns
- Head injuries
- Explosions
These liabilities can also apply to illnesses when caused, contributed to, or aggravated by negligence or unseaworthiness, or that manifest themselves while the crewmember was in the service of the ship.
These illnesses could include:
- Heart disease
- Hearing loss
- Food or water poisoning
- Arthritis
- Tuberculosis
- Pneumonia
- Lead poisoning
- Dermatitis
- Asbestosis
If I file an offshore injury claim, will I be blackballed or blacklisted?
Injured offshore workers sometimes worry that filing an injury claim would not only lead to termination, but also in being barred from similar future employment.
Unfortunately, employers do sometimes attempt to retaliate when these workers exercise their legal rights, but this should not be a deciding factor when choosing whether to pursue compensation for your injury.
This is because crewmembers have rights. An employer may not discharge a crewmember:
- in retaliation for filing a Jones Act claim
- for testifying or giving information in support for a fellow crewmember’s claim
- for reporting a statutory or regulatory violation to the Coast Guard
- for refusing to obey an order that would impose an undue risk of death or
serious personal injury to the crew.
A crewmember who is the victim of such retaliatory vengeance by the employer is entitled to file a lawsuit to recover damages for mental anguish, lost earnings and expenses of finding another job.
We Are Here To Help With Your Mississippi Offshore Injury Case
When we take on a client, we want to know what it was like to be there during their injury – what it felt like, what it sounded like, what it smelled like. We want to know what was happening through their eyes.
We deep dive into what their life was like before their injury, and what it’s been like since.
As attorneys and advocates with 20 years of maritime law under our belt, it’s our job to absorb each client’s story and be in touch with that client emotionally—not only so that they know we’re truly on their side, but also to effectively present this story to a jury of their peers.
Telling that story together… that’s how we win our cases.
Let us help you right the ship.
Click or call (504) 584-6300 to schedule a free and confidential consultation
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