Admiralty Attorneys

Personal Injury Law, Admiralty Law or Both?

Like all jobs, a seaman has a right to work in a safe and healthy environment. By the pure nature of a seaman's job, there are multiple issues that can arise that put the worker at risk. These workers sometimes basically live at sea. They work long hours with few breaks. They work at night and during the day. Some work below the deck and some above even during bad weather. Timing is everything and seamen work very hard around the clock. Wages are sometimes based on shifts and overtime. Workers will often opt to work rather than sleep or rest. Why would one sleep when they can earn more before heading back to shore? It's a difficult lifestyle that sometimes results in severe injuries.

If you have been injured on the job, you do have laws that will protect you and help you recover some lost wages or maybe even loss benefits. This is the case even when a worker has a complete understanding of just how risky the job is. Knowledge of such risks in no way removes the liability of an employer that allows its employees to work in unsafe work conditions. Laws like the Jones Act help protect a sea worker injured because of the carelessness of its employer.

For the most part admiralty attorneys will be the best type of attorney for your case. However, there are other areas of law that may play a part in your case. If you were working on a machine when you were injured, and the injury was caused by the malfunctioning of the machine, then the manufacturer of this machinery may be held liable. This would fall under the realm of products liability. When talking to admiralty attorneys, you will find many that understand how products liability laws will apply to your case.

Your injury may also fall under areas of law such as personal injury. Depending on your actual injury, how it happened, what person(s) were involved and what events lead up to the injury will depend on whether or not personal injury law is applicable.

There is also employment law and worker's compensation law. Both these areas of law will depend on your state. Factors such as the location of the vessel when the injury occurred, destination of the vessel, and what exactly you are requesting will depend on whether these area of laws will needed to be further investigated.

Overall, choosing among the many admiralty attorneys is quite challenging now that you know you may need attorneys in who may also need to understand other areas of law. However, you should not feel overwhelmed. Many admiralty attorneys either have the knowledge of the areas of law outside of maritime law or they have access to resources that do. At Williams Kherkher, our admiralty attorneys have access to other areas of law because of our qualified attorney staff that covers a very wide range of practice areas. Please contact Williams Kherkher today to schedule a free initial consultation.