Locating The Most Suitable New Orleans Maritime Attorneys For Your Claim

By Author: Susan Gray
Total Articles: 5
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Historic New Orleans, a major US port city straddling the Mississippi River, is approximately 105 miles upriver from the Gulf of Mexico. Here you can find one of the most significant and busiest ports in the world, New Orleans is the center of a robust maritime industry with its crucial distribution centers and transportation hub for water based business. An extraordinary number of maritime vessels annually move through New Orleans on the Mississippi River. Countless shipping, logistics, freight forwarding, storage facilities, and commodity brokerage firms maintain a crucial local presence with numerous energy producers and oilfield services companies headquartered within the metropolitan area. The wide variety of maritime jobs available runs the gamut from deckhands on vessels such as tugboats, fishing boats, dredges, or barges to positions involving marine construction, pipe-laying, salvage, heavy lifting, diving services as well as a myriad of other positions. Folks from all over the country travel to New Orleans for maritime work. Consequently, it’s not a surprise to have a large number of New Orleans Maritime Attorneys ...
... offering services to the many people in Louisiana and along the Gulf Coast who work on the water either as sea man on a commercial fishing vessel, or as a member of the multi-faceted oil and gas industry.

It's important to know that maritime law is a highly specialized area of law, if you have been injured or if someone you love has been injured or killed while working upon a maritime vessel, it is a good idea to seek a New Orleans maritime attorney who works within this specialized area of law, rather than consulting a lawyer who deals with general personal injury law. If you are a land based maritime worker who happened to be injured while working on a vessel at a given time, would you qualify for Jones Act compensation? How are vessels defined under the Jones Act? Depending upon the claim, maritime law has a unique set of statutes of limitations. Will your suit be barred from consideration? Injured maritime workers need New Orleans maritime attorneys who have a complete understanding of maritime laws, admiralty law, and the all-important Jones Act, as well as all the numerous requirements for filing claims. The greatest New Orleans maritime attorneys will completely discuss your legal options and then continue with the best strategy to get you the results you and your family need.

What is required for someone to qualify to seek compensation under The Jones Act? Only a seaman who is a crew member on a boat can recover payment under the Jones Act. Crew members who work on tankers, freighters, jack-up rigs, semi-submersibles, barges, lay barges, tugs, supply boats, crew boats, and fishing vessels are defined seamen. In addition those who are crewmembers on movable or jack-up drilling rigs are also seamen. The term “seaman” is also appropriate to the Captain and his officers. However, longshoremen, pilots, and those who work on fixed platforms are not usually regarded as seamen. There are other maritime remedies available for to them in case of injury. It is important to understand that one’s “seaman” status depends on the nature of your position, your status as a member of the vessel, and the operation of the vessel in navigable waters. A vessel is defined under the Jones Act is "a structure designed for and being used for the transportation of passengers, cargo or equipment across navigable waters.” Note that, it is not necessary that the vessel be self-propelled or even equipped with navigational aids to be considered a Jones Act "vessel." There are cases in which a vessel is considered “part time” such as casino boats tied to a dock, or sedentary or fixed oil and gas platform rigs. Courts view the overall context of the injured individual's employment, not just the circumstance under which he was hurt to determine whether the plaintiff is covered under The Jones Act.

The specificity of how the Maritime law and The Jones Act is handled in regard to maritime workers calls for the expertise of New Orleans maritime attorneys. For that reason, it is significant if you have been injured while working on a vessel along the waterways of Louisiana or in the Gulf of Mexico to consult with a New Orleans maritime attorney who can correctly advise you regarding your compensation.

Effortless access to the Word wide web makes it possible to learn a New Orleans Maritime Attorney. The big question is how to differentiate which Louisiana Maritime Attorneys would best take on your case. You can depend on the word of the law office of Gordon, Elias && Seely, L.L.P. to represent your maritime law situation.