You may qualify if you spend roughly 30% or more of your working time in the service of a vessel or identifiable fleet, provided your duties also contribute to the vessel’s function. This covers many deckhands, engineers, and crew members on the Illinois River, the Mississippi River, and the Great Lakes. What Does It Mean…
Continue reading ›When a seaman dies while working on a vessel, surviving family members often ask who can file a Jones Act wrongful death claim. The Jones Act provides legal protections for certain seamen and their families when a death results from employer negligence or an unseaworthy vessel. Under federal maritime law, the deceased worker’s personal representative…
Continue reading ›Working on the water has never been safe work, but some maritime occupations carry risks that dwarf almost every other industry in the country. Understanding which roles rank among the most dangerous maritime jobs helps explain why federal laws like the Jones Act exist in the first place, and why injured seamen have legal protections…
Continue reading ›Waiting for a settlement while you’re out of work and dealing with medical bills is one of the hardest parts of recovering from a maritime injury. Injured seamen we’ve worked with almost always ask the same thing early on: how long does a Jones Act case take to settle, and is there any way to…
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