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A Message From
Jeff Stern
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Houston Office:
4909 Bissonnet Street
Suite 100
Bellaire, TX 77401
Phone: 713-661-9900
Toll Free: 1-877-661-9900
Mc Allen Office:
721 East Esperanza Ave, Suite C
Mc Allen, Tx 78501
956-226-4236
Fax 956-992-971
*By Appointment only
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If you were injured at Sea or on navigable waters, contact us at Stern, Miller & Higdon. We are lawyers handling Maritime injuries under the Jones Act.
The Jones Act provides injured seamen a remedy against their employers for injuries arising from negligent acts of the employer or co-workers during the course of employment on a vessel. Claims brought under the Jones Act can also raise a claim for unseaworthiness against a vessel owner. If a seaman dies from injuries he sustained in the course of his employment, a wrongful death claim may be based on the Jones Act, general maritime law, or on a separate federal statute, the Death on the High Seas Act. Death on the High Seas Act only applies if the injuries a seaman dies from were sustained on the high seas beyond a marine league from the shore of any State, or the District of Columbia, or the Territories or dependencies of the United States. The Death on the High Seas Act does not apply to the Great Lakes or to any waters within the territorial limits of any State, or to any navigable waters in the Panama Canal Zone.
About the Jones Act
In 1920, Congress enacted the Jones Act to provide a remedy for injuries or death sustained by seamen or members of the crew of vessels caused by negligence on the part of their employers. The Jones Act extends the provisions of the Federal Employers' Liability Act (FELA), a statute that provides remedies for injured railroad workers, to provide similar remedies for seamen. FELA is explicitly incorporated into the Jones Act. As a result, an injured seaman can recover damages from the employer when the employer or co-worker's negligence causes the injury. The Jones Act applies only to seamen. A seaman is a member of the crew of a vessel or someone who is assigned to a vessel or a fleet of vessels. Longshoremen, pilots and those who work on fixed platforms are not seamen, but in some instances a person covered under the Longshore and Harbor Worker's Compensation Act may be treated as a Jones Act seaman. A lawyer can help figure out whether someone is a seaman for the purposes of the Act.
For a seaman to claim Jones Act liability an employer-employee relationship must exist and the accident must occur while the seaman is in the "course and scope" of that employment. The employer must also be negligent.
Seamen may be protected by the Jones Act, even if they are not working on the vessel. If a seaman is injured while working temporarily elsewhere, the Act may still apply. However, if the temporary assignment is not "in the service of the ship" when he was injured, the Act may not apply.
Failing to provide a safe place to work can give rise to a Jones Act claim, if the unsafe place is the vessel or if it is another place under the employer's control. An unseaworthiness claim may be pursued if the employer is also the owner of the vessel, and the injury is caused by an unsafe condition on the vessel. An employer also can be liable if there is a violation of a safety statute, which is the cause of the injury. An employer can also be liable for failing to provide adequate medical care.
The Jones Act also holds an employer liable for the negligence of other employees or individuals for which the employer is responsible, including the negligence of the seaman's co-workers during the scope of their employment. An independent contractor can sometimes be viewed as an employee under the Jones Act.
An employer owes a seaman a higher duty of care under the Jones Act than an ordinary negligence case, and the employer can be liable if its breach of that duty, no matter how small, contributed in any way to causing the seaman's injury. Although a seaman contributed to causing his injury, the employer's liability may be reduced. The common law doctrine of "assumption of the risk" is not a defense under the Jones Act and will not reduce the amount of compensation under the Act.
A seaman who becomes ill or injured on a vessel, regardless of the fault of the vessel or its operators, is entitled to maintenance and cure. Maintenance is a small daily stipend designed to provide food and shelter that the seaman would have received while aboard the vessel. Cure is the obligation of the seaman's employer to provide medical treatment until the seaman reaches maximum medical improvement. Maximum medical improvement (MMI) means that the seaman's condition will not improve any further or he is permanently disabled. Once a seaman reaches MMI, the vessel owner's obligation to pay maintenance and cure ceases. If an employer refuses to pay maintenance and cure, then the employer can be held liable for damages and attorneys' fees.
The Statute of Limitations in a Jones Act case is generally three years from the date of injury. A Jones Act case may be filed in either federal or state court. The case can be tried to a judge or jury, at the seaman's election.
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