Thursday, October 3, 2013

How Maritime Lawyers Evaluate Cruise Ship Crew Member Injury Cases Under the Jones Act


When a cruise ship crew member is injured while working aboard a vessel, they may and often do qualify for Jones Act compensation for their maritime injuries.? For a cruise boat crew member to qualify for compensation under the Jones Act, either the injured party must be American, or the vessel must be an American-flagged vessel. When our cruise injury lawyers first speak with an injured cruise employee, we will need to know the following information:? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?



  • The name of the cruise ship on board which the crew member was injured



  • The date of injury and the details of how you were injured



  • The name of the employer



  • How many contracts the crew member has worked for this employer



  • The position/title of the injured party while working aboard the vessel



  • The home country of the employee



  • If the injured employee is currently receiving medical care and if so, where



  • Whether or not the injured party is receiving maintenance and cure



  • In your own words, please tell our cruise ship injury lawyers what was the negligence of the cruise boat that caused your accident

An injured crew member?is entitled under maritime law to receive both maintenance and cure.? Maintenance is a daily amount paid to an injured seaman for cost of living including food and lodging.? Cure is payment of?reasonable medical expenses result in from the injury.? An injured cruise ship worker is also entitled to receive unearned wages to the end of their contracted sea voyage or contract for employment.?

General maritime law also provides the tort remedy of unseaworthiness, strict liability for the ship owner with regard to its non-delegable duty to insure its cruise ship is reasonably safe and fit for its intended purpose.? To recover under this theory of liability, an injured crew member must prove the cruise line failed to provide a "seaworthy" cruise ship.?

Each year, cruise ship employees are injured or killed due to cruise ship negligence. Inadequate vessel maintenance and failure to inspect equipment on board the vessel that the crew might use frequently contribute to serious injury and death. The Jones Act , a federal statute encompassing a considerable portion of maritime law, is the applicable law for the maritime law personal injury claims of ship crew members injured while working on the ship. ?Jones Act claims are a very complicated and?specialized field of law.? When you speak with injury lawyers, please be sure to ask them how many maritime cases they have handled in their career. ??Experienced maritime lawyers will have handled hundreds, if not thousands of cruise ship crew member injury cases.?

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