Maritime and Admiralty Law
Seaman personal injury and wrongful death
We pursue Jones Act lawsuits on behalf of seaman injured while working on vessels and wrongful death suits on behalf of sailors’ grieving families. An injured seaman may recover for a breach of the warranty of seaworthiness, for negligence under the Jones Act and for maintenance and cure.
Unseaworthiness
The warranty of seaworthiness provided to the crew of vessel is a doctrine of liability without fault. Unlike negligence, to find liability for unseaworthiness, the shipowner need not have had any knowledge that the unseaworthy condition existed or have had an opportunity to correct it. Mahnich v. Southern S.S. Co., 321 U.S. 96, 1944 A.M.C. 96, 88 L. Ed. 541, 64 S. Ct. 455 (1944) Under admiralty law, an absolute and non-delegable duty is imposed on the shipowner to furnish a vessel reasonably safe and fit for its intended purpose. A vessel’s condition of unseaworthiness may arise from any number of circumstances, including and insufficient number of (crew) assigned to perform a shipboard task, or the existence of a defective condition. If the seaman is assigned to use equipment or directed to follow a method of operation that is dangerous, that is not fit for its intended purpose and is unseaworthy.
Jones Act (46 U.S.C. sec. 688) Negligence
The Jones Act plaintiff enjoys two significant advantages over the plaintiff in a common law negligence action. First, the standard of care owed to a sailor is higher than the common-law standard of care. Second, the burden on the issue of causation is “featherweight.” The evidence of negligence need not be substantial, and the slightest negligence is sufficient to sustain a finding of liability.
Maintenance and Cure
A vessel owner has an absolute duty to provide maintenance and cure for a seaman who falls or becomes injured while in the service of the ship. This duty does not depend upon the negligence or culpability of the owner. Failure to pay maintenance or cure makes the vessel owner liable to all of the seaman’s attorney’s fees and costs related to proving the claim for maintenance or cure.
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