A: Generally, three years from the date of injury to file a maritime injury lawsuit, under federal law (46 U.S.C. § 30106). That is different from the two-year deadline most Texans have for ordinary personal injury cases — the federal three-year deadline controls maritime cases. Some situations have shorter deadlines, including injuries involving a U.S. government vessel (typically two years, with a written-notice requirement) and certain cruise passenger contracts (often one year). If you are not sure which deadline applies to you, call right away — the wrong guess can end your case.
A: If you were hurt while working as crew on a vessel — a tugboat, towboat, barge, OSV, crew boat, dredge, fishing boat, or a mobile drilling vessel — it almost certainly does. Workers on fixed offshore platforms (jacket platforms permanently attached to the seabed) usually fall under different laws (the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act or the federal Longshore Act) and may not have a maritime injury claim of this type. Loaders, longshoremen, and harbor workers usually fall under the federal Longshore Act. Borderline situations — a worker who splits time between vessels and shore, a vessel temporarily out of navigation, a worker loaned out by a staffing company — are exactly where careful legal analysis matters most.
A: Often, no. If you qualify as a maritime worker (a “seaman” in legal terms), you are not limited to workers’ comp — you can sue your employer for negligence and the vessel owner for unseaworthiness, and you can claim broader damages including pain and suffering and lost earning capacity. Many maritime workers who assume they are stuck with workers’ comp actually have a substantially more valuable claim. This is exactly the kind of question we answer in a free case review.
A: You are entitled to choose your own doctor for your injury, and you should not let the company doctor’s note dictate when you go back to work or when your medical care ends. Document everything: your symptoms, the dates, the exact words the company doctor used, every diagnostic test (or refusal to order one). If the company is using its doctor’s note to cut off your medical care, that may itself give rise to additional claims. Get a real evaluation from a doctor of your own choosing as soon as possible.
A: Almost certainly not. The daily living payment maritime employers owe injured crew (“maintenance”) is supposed to cover the actual reasonable cost of food and lodging in your community — not a token amount the company picked decades ago. If you can document your real living expenses, a court can order a higher rate. When an employer pays a token amount or refuses to pay at all, attorney’s fees and — in egregious cases — punitive damages may be available.
A: Not necessarily. Maritime employers are required to pay for reasonable and necessary medical treatment until the injured worker reaches “maximum medical improvement” (MMI) — meaning, until a real doctor says you are as healed as you are going to get. Employers and their insurers often cut off care prematurely based on a company-selected doctor’s quick MMI declaration. That is not the end of the road. We can challenge it, get an independent medical evaluation, and — in cases where the cutoff was arbitrary — pursue extra damages.
A: You can still recover. Maritime law uses pure comparative fault, which means even if a jury finds you partly at fault, your damages are reduced by your percentage of fault but you still recover. There is no 50% bar like there is in some Texas state-law cases. A worker found 40% at fault still recovers 60% of damages. Don’t let the company’s adjuster tell you you have no case because you “should have been more careful” — that is not how maritime law works.
A: Possibly. Repetitive trauma injuries — cumulative back injuries, shoulder damage, carpal tunnel, hearing loss — are recognized in maritime law. The legal analysis of when the deadline starts running is different for these cases (it usually runs from when you reasonably should have known the injury was work-related), and these cases turn heavily on medical records and work history. Don’t assume you’re out of time just because the injury didn’t happen on a single date.
A: It depends on what kind of rig. If you are permanently assigned to a drillship, semi-submersible, jack-up, or other mobile offshore drilling unit (MODU), you very likely qualify as a maritime worker. If you work on a fixed platform anchored to the seabed, you generally do not qualify under the Jones Act — different laws (the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, the Longshore Act) usually apply. The line is fact-specific and depends on whether the structure is a “vessel” in legal terms. We can sort this out in a free call.
A: Probably not. Maritime employers commonly ask injured workers to sign “release” or “settlement” documents very early, sometimes for a fraction of what the case is worth, and sometimes before the worker has even seen a real doctor. If you signed something already, bring us a copy. There are doctrines in maritime law (the “seaman’s release” doctrine) that scrutinize these settlements with extra care, and many of them are challengeable. If they are still pressuring you to sign — don’t, until we have looked at it.
A: If your treating doctor says you are not medically fit to return, you are not obligated to return because the company says so or because a company-selected doctor says so. Coming back too early can also worsen your injury and complicate your case (it gives the defense a story about your real condition). Document the order to return, the medical opinion supporting your continued recovery, and any threats made about your job. Then call us.
A: Maritime wrongful death cases follow a different framework than Texas wrongful death cases, and the framework depends on where the death occurred. If the death happened more than 3 nautical miles from shore, a federal law called the Death on the High Seas Act controls. Closer to shore, general maritime law and Jones Act survival principles apply. The damages categories, who can sue, and the deadlines are technical. We are deeply sorry for your loss, and we can walk you through this in a private call.
A: Nothing up front. We handle maritime injury cases on a contingency-fee basis: there are no attorney’s fees unless we recover for you. Case costs (expert witnesses, depositions, vessel records subpoenas, marine surveys) are advanced by the firm under our retainer agreement and are reimbursed out of any recovery. We will explain the retainer in detail before you sign anything.
A: Yes. Our founder, Charles Vethan, is licensed to practice law in both Texas and California. We represent injured people in Southern California as well as Texas, including maritime workers hurt at the Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles. Call (281) 500-1000 for a free case review.
