Maritime Personal Injury

Maritime Personal Injury occurs when a worker or passenger on a ship sustains an injury while aboard the ship. Such injuries may involve any type of watercraft or take place in any type of maritime setting. Often times injuries occur on cruise ships, commercial fishing boats, recreational boats, personal watercrafts or on shipyards, docks or piers.

There are four main categories of individuals injured at sea or in maritime settings:

• Seamen or fishermen: A seaman is a worker who works on a vessel or fleet of vessels doing the vessel’s work, such as a fisherman, cook, engineer, ferry worker, deckhand or merchant mariner.
• Longshoremen or Harbor workers: a worker who works on or near the water and loads, unloads, or ties up the vessel.
• Passengers
• Business invitees

Maritime personal injury laws vary depending on the party injured and the location of the injury. Those factors often dictate which laws, federal statutes, or international treaties should be followed in the course of a boating lawsuit. As such, damages available will also vary.  Damages may include medical costs, disability, past and future pain and suffering, loss of income, loss of earning capacity, and loss of enjoyment of life. Our firm has handled multiple maritime personal injury and boating accident lawsuits and has significant experience litigating against major entities in the industry. Often times there is a statute of limitations, requiring you to file your claim within a certain period of time. Therefore, we suggest you contact us as soon as possible to discuss any maritime personal injury or boating accident claim you may have.