What are the Most Common Accidents on Board Ships?

Unlike car accidents or slip and fall cases where attorneys see the same type of accident over and over, there is no “common” type of accident on board a ship. Each maritime accident is truly unique with an outcome based on a distinctive set of circumstances.  However, in our years of practicing maritime law at…

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Does Fatigue Put Maritime Workers at Risk?

Maritime workers are essential to the global economy. More than 90 percent of the world’s trade is shipped by sea or across navigable waters. However, the maritime industry is plagued with falls overboard, groundings caused by navigation errors, collisions, fires, drownings and even amputation injuries. Unfortunately, many of these accidents are caused by fatigued maritime…

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What are the Most Common Types of Injuries to Vessel Cooks and Stewards?

It’s easy to think most maritime accidents only involve commercial fishermen, longshoremen and deckhands. However, vessel cooks and stewards are also susceptible to injuries at sea. Vessel cooks are necessary on smaller vessels, such as tugboats, as well as larger vessels, like yachts or cruise ships. Vessel stewards are also necessary to perform housekeeping duties…

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What to Expect After a Maritime Injury

If you’re in a car accident, you know what to do. You call the police and file an insurance claim. However, when you experience a traumatizing maritime injury while working at sea, things work a lot differently. In all of the confusion, it can be easy to say or do the wrong thing that could…

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The Jones Act Essentials: Answers to the Most Common Questions

The Jones Act is a law governing most maritime matters. It was created in 1920 to explicitly define the rights of injured seamen and their families because they were not covered by workers’ compensation laws. The most common explanation of when the Jones Act is applicable would be when a seaman is injured or dies…

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Did the Hawaiian Jones Act Challenge Fail?

According to MarineLog.com, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit turned away a challenge to the Jones Act recently by a corporation and six people in Hawaii. The news source reported that the Hawaiian plaintiffs had shipping interests and argued that the Jones Act impaired their ability to conduct interstate trade and violated…

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Is the Jones Act Still Being Debated?

Updating a series of blog posts we brought you recently, the Jones Act still appears to be under fire from lawmakers who would like to see the law repealed or want exemptions made to it. According to the Associated Press, Hawaiian lawmakers have asked that the state be made exempt from portions of the Jones…

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Why is the Jones Act Important?

In our blogs recently, we have been discussing how Senator John McCain (R-AZ) has proposed an amendment that could repeal the Jones Act. While McCain’s proposal has stalled and its discussion has been rescheduled, it has brought up debate about the importance of the Jones Act. Recently, there have been several editorials and opinion pieces…

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Jones Act Safe for Now

Last week, we reported in our blog that Senator John McCain (R-AZ) was proposing an amendment that could repeal the Jones Act. However, after our post was published, some positive news came out of Washington, as the amendment was never considered for debate when the bill it was attached to came up for discussion in…

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Is the Jones Act in Danger?

United States Senator John McCain (R-AZ) is proposing an amendment that could repeal the Jones Act, which has been a part of maritime law since 1920. Part of the Jones Act requires that ships that work in the U.S. and in our ports, be completely American made. Because of this, the national maritime community, including…

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Can a Company Be Sued for Building an Unseaworthy Vessel?

Can a Company Be Sued for Building an Unseaworthy Vessel? A False Claims Act case has been revived against Bollinger Shipyards Inc. Bollinger had made eight defective hulls for U.S. Coast Guard ships, which cost $78 million in modifications. The ships were considered unseaworthy, but a Louisiana federal judge had ended the lawsuit in 2013,…

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Will Congress Support the Jones Act?

The Jones Act is looking at another lease on life as the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate announce their support for the Jones Act by approving legislation that makes the act a part of the National Defense Authorization Act. Supporters state that domestic maritime industries are crucial to both national defense and our…

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How Does the Jones Act Protect American Maritime Workers?

The Jones Act has recently come under fire as businesses, oil refiners and think tanks push for repeal of the law in upcoming sessions. However, the Jones Act does more than just provide a cause of action for workers harmed by their employers – it protects American jobs. How Does the Jones Act Protect American…

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Jones Act Regulatory Basis of Liability

1. Remedies of Seaman for Injury or Death Maintenance and cure under general maritime law Cause of action for unseaworthiness under general maritime Cause of action for negligence under Jones Act 2. Jones Act Also called Merchant Marine Act of 1920, recently recodified at 46 U.S.C. §§ 30104, 30105, 30106(prior to recodification 46 U.S.C., §688…

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Pain and Suffering Hard to Prove

Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly By Barbara Rabinovitz They are known as merchant seamen — the mates, engineers, captains and others who labor on the large commercial vessels that ply the world’s high seas. Rarely is there a female among them, but in the summer of 2005 there was a “woman merchant seaman,” as a Boston plaintiffs’…

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Seaman Falls Through Open Hatch

Negligence: Paraplegia: Verdict ATLA Law Reporter September 2006 Falconer v. Penn Maritime, Inc., U.S. Dist. Ct., D.Me., No. 05-42-B-W, Nov. 22, 2005. Falconer, 43, was employed as a seaman on a tugboat operated by Penn Maritime. While carrying an engine part, he fell 14 feet through an open hatch in the engine room, striking a…

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Top Jury Verdicts of 2001 Injury Aboard Ship

The Top Jury Verdicts of 2001, #6: Injury Aboard Ship Leads To Admiralty Verdict Case Turned On Critical Internal Company E-Mail By Marissa Yaremich Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly January 14, 2002 Related Articles: May 28, 2001 May 19, 2001 Life at sea is considered one of the most physically grueling and dangerous occupations on earth. The…

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Carolyn M. Latti Lawyer of the Year 2001

Carolyn M. Latti Lawyer of the Year 2001 Lawyers Of The Year 2001 – Carolyn M. Latti By Marissa Yaremich Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Carolyn M. Latti loves to use her lawyering skills to shake up the old school mentality that “life on the water” is a men’s-only club. As the only female attorney in Massachusetts…

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Seaman Gets $2.5 Million Jones Act Verdict

Seaman Gets $2.5M Jones Act Verdict By Paul D. Boynton Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly May 28, 2001 An ship engineer who suffered debilitating leg injuries on board a vessel recently obtained a $2.5 million jury verdict under the federal Jones Act, according to his attorney, Carolyn Latti of Boston. The Jones Act lets ship employees injured…

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Mariner Awarded $2.8 Million in Suit

Mariner Awarded $2.8 Million In Suit By John Doherty The Standard-Times May 19, 2001 WAREHAM – A Wareham mariner has won a $2.8 million award from an Exxon subsidiary after a federal jury ruled yesterday the company was negligent in an accident that broke the sailor’s leg. Carlos Castro had worked 24 years for Seariver…

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Seaman’s Minor Injury Results in Big Time Award

Compensation Made For ‘Anguish’ Of Lost Career By Eric T. Berkman Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly February 16, 1998 Loss of limb. Permanent paralysis. Brain damage. Death. Those are the images generally conjured up by news of a multi-million-dollar verdict. But mental anguish? That may not be the kind of thing typically associated with a huge recovery.…

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Boat Line Worker Wins Lawsuit

Boat Line Worker Wins Lawsuit Boat Line Worker Wins Lawsuit, Jury Awards Steamship Authority Employee More Than $700,000 for Injuries By Julia St. George Cape Cod Times November 8, 1996 BOSTON – A Woods Hole, Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket Steamship Authority employee injured on the job two years ago was awarded more than $700,000 by…

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