Seaman & Crew Member Injuries

Crew members who suffer personal injury or death due to an accident resulting from a shipping company’s violation of a statute or regulation may pursue a strict liability claim. Having previously represented cruise ship companies, ship and vessel operators, and yacht owners for 19 years, the board-certified maritime attorneys at Brais Law Firm are in a unique position to help crew members who have suffered personal injury or death due to an accident while aboard any type of “vessel”, including a cruise ship, tanker, yacht, tug, ferry or workboat. The seaman injury lawyers at the law firm of Brais Law Firm are here to help crew members and seafarers injured as a result of an accident aboard any one of these vessels. A crew member’s employer is strictly liable for any injury caused by the violation of a Federal statute or regulation designed for the safety of the crewmember. However, unlike the typical Jones Act seaman negligence case where the employer of the crew member can reduce the damages owed proportionally by the negligence of the injured crew member, an employer is barred under a negligence per se claim from reducing the damages available to a crew member due to the crewmember’s comparative fault. This is an important difference.

For example, if a crewmember was injured not as a result of the employer’s failure to comply with a Federal safety statute or regulation, and the crewmember proved $1 Million in damages, but the employer proved that the crew member was 99% responsible for his/her accident, the crew member would only receive $1 Thousand at the end of the trial. However, if a crewmember was injured but this time as a result of the employer’s failure to comply with a Federal safety statute or regulation, the employer would be unable to reduce the award to the crew member even if s/he was 99% responsible for his/her our injury. The crewmember would receive the full $1 Million at the end of the trial. This example is illustrated below:

The duty of ship owners to provide maintenance and cure benefits for the crew members and seamen working for them in time of injury or illness is hundreds of years old. Maintenance and cure is a remedy dependent upon Jones Act seaman status. “Maintenance” is the daily allowance intended to provide ill or injured crew member and seamen lodging and food while convalescing. “Cure” is medical expenses necessary to treat ill or injured seamen and transportation to and from doctors’ offices. Sick wages is simply the amount of wages a seaman would receive if s/he was well enough to continue working for the remainder of the voyage or contract period.

The obligation to pay maintenance, cure, and sick wages arise when a seaman becomes ill or is injured regardless of any negligence or fault on the part of the marine employer or ship owner/operator. The illness need not arise out of the seaman’s occupation and, thus, can arise out of a medical condition such as a heart problem, a prior illness that resurfaces during a seaman’s employment or, in certain circumstances, an injury suffered on shore.