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The Jones Act, a specific statute that Congress wrote to help workers, allows an employee to file a tort lawsuit against his employer and applies to certain maritime workers who have been injured on the job. However, not every maritime worker qualifies to bring a lawsuit under the Act.

The Jones Act

The Jones Act falls under the general umbrella of maritime law claims. To understand the first, it’s important to understand the second. We asked Tim Young, an attorney from New Orleans, Louisiana whose firm’s practice focuses on maritime injury cases, to explain. According to Young, “Lawyers call a general maritime law claim any type of claim involving people that are injured on the water. General maritime law describes certain remedies; the most common claims would involve a general maritime law claim along with a statutory claim under the Jones Act which applies to workers offshore.”

“A typical maritime law claim involves a person who is injured on a vessel or an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico or on some other body of water. When you’re injured on a vessel, or if you’re over the water, maritime law will generally apply.”

Permanent assignment required

Young, whose firm litigates maritime cases that occurred in the Gulf of Mexico involving oil rig workers, the Mississippi River involving tug boat workers and other bodies of water including the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, explained that permanent assignment is required for the Jones Act to apply:

The Jones Act is a federal statute. It has not come about from case law, or from England, as maritime law generally has. You have to be an employee for the Jones Act to apply to you. The Act applies to anyone who is working on a vessel and who is more or less permanently assigned to that vessel – and again, the definition of vessel can be very broad in that situation though.

The term permanently assigned has been interpreted to mean that more or less 30 percent of the employee’s time must be spent on a particular vessel or a fleet of vessels. The permanent assignment is typically not a very hard requirement to meet as long as a person is spending a good part of his time aboard the vessel.

Personal injury

The Jones Act treats a personal injury claim very similar to how most people believe a car accident claim is treated. Young explained, “Under the Jones Act, if the employee proves that the company is at fault in any way for causing or contributing to their accident, then the employee will receive that percentage of damage of their entire damages, including pain and suffering, lost wages, medical expenses and lost benefits. It’s similar to car accident cases where the idea is to compensate the person for all of their damages.”

Wrongful death

The Jones Act treats a wrongful death case a bit differently. According to Young, “The people who were being supported, who were receiving monetary support from that seaman, are the ones who go into court and filing the claims. Normally, it would be a wife or children who come in and they become the personal representative of the deceased seaman. The damages are different because it’s viewed from the standpoint of the individuals who are losing the income from the deceased.”

If you have been injured in an accident on or near the water, contact an attorney whose practice focuses on maritime issues. To contact an experienced maritime attorney, please click here.