When you or a loved one has been injured in the normal scope of offshore work, you may be entitled to recover compensation through the Jones Act and other federal statutes designed to protect maritime workers. Above and beyond maintenance and cure, you may be able to pursue additional compensation.
If you face maritime injuries, it is important to speak with an experienced admiralty, maritime and Jones Act attorney. The lawyers of Gordon & Elias, LLP work with clients across the nation seeking compensation following a serious offshore injury.
Maritime work is difficult and often dangerous, whether working on a coastal oil rigs, ferrying supplies and crew to and from dry land or working on the busy commercial traffic of the Mississippi River. No matter how hazardous the work may be, people across the state of Louisiana rely on maritime industries for their livelihood.
But what happens when someone else’s negligence leads to a serious injury in a crew boat accident or on the deck of a barge? Who will be on your side when you are injured?
From our offices in Houston, Texas, we work with Jones Act clients all along the Gulf Coast and throughout the nation. From Lake Charles to Lake Pontchartrain, our lawyers put decades of combined legal experience and extensive resources to work for clients who pursue compensation for their injuries under the Jones Act.
Our attorneys have established a long and proud reputation for protecting workers’ rights, and we have worked with unions and their members such as the Seafarer’s International Union (SIU) to provide full and fair representation.
The maintenance and cure lawyers of Gordon & Elias, LLP, help Jone’s Act maritime workers collect the maintenance and cure benefits that are rightfully theirs, when they become ill or are injured while employed aboard a vessel or ship regardless of who caused an injury or illness. If your employer is denying you necessary medical treatment, our maintenance and cure lawyers will make sure that you receive the medical care including surgery, any diagnostic tests, and / or therapy you need to recover. We strongly suggest you have your own private doctor oversee your initial diagnosis rather than rely upon a medical professional your employer suggests. As a seaman working on barges, off shore rigs, fishing boats or other commercial vessels, you are entitled to paid medical care, including hospitalization and living expenses. Our experienced maintenance and cure attorneys will seek punitive damages, if your maritime employer willfully denies you your entitled maintenance and cure benefits.
A knowledgeable Louisiana maintenance and cure attorney will likely suggest to injured seamen to receive their initial diagnosis and treatment with a medical professional who is not associated with their maritime employer. Speak with a Louisiana maintenance and cure lawyer at Gordon & Elias, LLP, who can review the specifics. There is no fee for your initial consultation and our maintenance and cure attorney will advise you of your legal options.
Working the water is a way of life for countless Louisiana residents. The Gulf Coast is rich with industry and work for an experience maritime worker, and the Mississippi River Delta is the gateway to American river ways. Water is a crucial part of Louisiana culture, history, industry and life.
At the law office of Gordon & Elias, LLP we understand how important your job and your way of life is to you. We work with people who are facing the most difficult challenges of their life, and we help them put the Jones Act and other federal protections to work for them.
Contact our office today for a free initial consultation to evaluate your claim and find out how our maritime law and Jones Act attorneys can work for you.
Maritime Law are the rules and laws applying to workers injured or killed on the waterways of the United States, such as rivers and lakes, in the Gulf of Mexico, or at sea because of an employer’s negligence on a navigable vessel. The worker, whether a seaman, longshoreman, and other waterway worker, may have a claim against his employer under the federal Jones Act and / or against another party causing the injury under General Maritime Law
Finding experienced New Orleans maritime lawyers who understand the devastation a serious or fatal injury can have on you, your job, and your family is an important first step in ensuring your rights are protected and / or building your legal case.
Maritime law is different from other personal injury law. Professional New Orleans Maritime Attorneys know that the amount of recovery injured seamen are entitled to will differ based on the facts of their individual cases. Balancing the many different aspects of a maritime law case involves numerous legal questions which must be answered, along with the complicated tests governing jurisdiction, “vessel in navigation” status, as well as the seaman’s status under the law are part of what qualified New Orleans Maritime Attorneys will do for you.
In addition, you will need New Orleans Maritime Lawyers who are skilled with the local New Orleans courts. Unfortunately it is not unheard of New Orleans courts in different jurisdictions reaching conflicting interpretations of a Maritime law, or the jurisdiction having a conflicting legal precedent on a particular issue.
Finally, you need New Orleans Maritime Attorneys who work regularly with experts in all relevant Maritime fields such as Coast Guard Regulations, marine safety and industry standards, marine engineering, vessel navigation, offshore drilling practices, and crane operations and rigging. These experts along with your New Orleans Maritime Lawyers will build and present the strongest case possible. Therefore, it is important to seek out a New Orleans maritime lawyer who is trained and experienced in the maritime laws’ complex rules, has access to numerous maritime related experts, and understands and works with the New Orleans courts system.
For many New Orleans residents working on the water as a maritime worker is a way of life. With not only access to the Gulf Coast, but also the Mississippi River Delta, maritime work in numerous industries is available. The hazards involved in maritime work whether you are working on oil rigs off the Gulf Coast on platforms, crew boats, spars, jack-up rigs, barges, tankers, dredges, cranes, or tugs, tows, supply boats, fishing vessels, freighters, semi-submersible rigs, on cruise ships, or while operating tug boats on the Mississippi River are very real.
If you are injured immediately seek a New Orleans Maritime Attorney. Our New Orleans maritime lawyers will file your maritime injury claims, instruct you as to where you can obtain proper medical care, will negotiate against powerful adversaries such as large maritime companies and their insurers as well as litigate your maritime injury and wrongful death case in state and federal courts.