Free Case Evaluation

Maritime law, which essentially refers to any type of injuries that occur on navigable waterways, allows for all damages suffered by the injured party. But, what damages are available?

To find out, we asked Tim Young, an attorney from New Orleans, Louisiana whose firm’s practice focuses on maritime injury cases. According to Young, “Damages include pain and suffering, lost wages and loss of benefits. Maritime jobs typically pay very high benefits and that can be a significant element of a damage award. Medical expenses for past, as well as future, medical needs are also included.”

Damage caps

There are no caps on damages in maritime cases. However, a certain amount of review is required to determine damage amounts. Young continued, “The injured party has to be able to prove those damages by a majority of the evidence. The only limitation on that is that if a lost wage claim is being made, then experts will need to be hired to calculate those lost wages. If medical expenses are being claimed, then doctors have to testify as to the amount of those medical expenses. Other than the evidence requirements for the damages, there are absolutely no caps on those damages.”

“Damage ranges, or guidelines, will vary from courthouse to courthouse and will typically be applied to cases; however, damage ranges ultimately depend on the type of injury sustained. Those guidelines, or ranges, are not set out in any type of book or statute and if a court of appeal believes that the damages were grossly excessive, they may lower them. However, that is on a case-by-case basis.”

Punitive damages

Punitive damages, those awarded to punish, are allowed under general maritime law and the Longshoreman’s Act, but not under the Jones Act. Young cautioned though, “Federal law applies to both the Jones and the Longshore Act cases. There are some cases that say that federal law can be supplemented by state law. However, it is unusual for that to happen. When it does, it can give the employee additional remedies, such as punitive damages or other rights, a state law may allow but that federal law does not.”

Don’t settle too quickly

Young says that settling a case too quickly is generally not in the client’s best interest. Unfortunately, it’s something he’s seen happen far too often. He explained, “What we see is that general practitioners will often become involved in a case for a few weeks or months and have repeated conversations with the company to try to settle the case. They may even propose what we believe are very low settlements, but the company simply ignores them or they don’t give serious thought to the settlement. In our view, companies do that because they have no incentive or pressure to try to settle the claim at that point.”

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.