Jones Act Maritime Lawyer : Houston Jones Act & Maritime Injury Lawyer & Attorney : Arnold & Itkin Law Firm : Offshore Injury, Maritime Law : Texas, Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, Florida

Arnold & Itkin LLP maritime attorneys Jason Itkin and Cory Itkin recently filed a Jones Act personal injury suit on behalf of an injured seaman from Missouri.  The plaintiff, who was employed as a seaman on the floating drillship Frontier Discoverer, was seriously injured when his foot was crushed by a drill collar.

Defendants named in the action are Noble Drilling Services, Inc., Noble Drilling International Inc., and Frontier Drilling USA, Inc.

The Jones Act case was filed in Harris County, Texas.

Arnold & Itkin LLP looks forward to aggressively pursuing the injured seaman's claims for compensatory and other damages based on the defendants' negligence and wrongful conduct.

For more information about  Arnold & Itkin LLP’s services on behalf of maritime workers, please visit: Jones-Act-Maritime-Lawyer.com and LawyerForYou.com.

For a free consultation, contact a maritime lawyer at Arnold & Itkin LLP by calling toll free 866-222-2606.

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The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals recently handed down decisions addressing significant issues in maritime law.  In Jowers v. Lincoln Electric Company, the Fifth Circuit considered the proper allocation of fault among joint tortfeasors where a Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act benefits recipient asserted a third-party claim against a "non-maritime entity."  In that case, the court determined that the district court improperly refused to instruct the jury at trial on a joint-tortfeasor defense that would have permitted allocation of fault under those circumstances.  The error mandated reversal and remand for a new trial.

In Bowoto v. Chevron Corporation, the Ninth Circuit addressed the interaction of the Death on the High Seas Act and the Alien Tort Statute.  While noting that the Act preempted wrongful death and survival claims that were brought by the plaintiffs under the Alien Tort Statute, the court cautioned that circumstances might exist where a plaintiff could assert claims under both.

For further discussion of each case, with links to the courts' opinions, please visit Arnold & Itkin LLP's maritime law coverage at GulfCoastMaritime.com.

The maritime attorneys at Arnold & Itkin LLP represent maritime workers who have been injured on the job.  For more information, visit:  Jones-Act-Maritime-Lawyer.com and LawyerForYou.com.

For a free consultation, contact a maritime lawyer at Arnold & Itkin LLP by calling toll free 877-398-4972.

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British lawmakers questioned leading oil industry executives in mid-September after the release of disturbing reports by Britain’s safety regulator, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).  At issue was whether the U.K. should consider a deepwater drilling moratorium in the North Sea, much like that imposed by the United States in the Gulf of Mexico earlier this year.  Rather than imposing such a moratorium, the British government earlier opted to heighten inspection practices in the North Sea, allowing oil production and drilling to go forward in the meantime.

The backdrop to the British inquiry included the Deepwater Horizon catastrophe, reports from the HSE reflecting  problems in BP’s emergency response chain of command, a litany of safety warnings from the agency to BP and other oil companies operating in the North Sea, and the safety agency’s most recent analysis of accident statistics in the North Sea oil industry.

As recently as last month, for instance, the HSE issued a warning to oil companies in general concerning North Sea accidents.  The agency cited accident figures compiled for 2009 to 2010, noting that while no workers had been killed during regulated activities for three years, the “combined fatal and major injury rate” almost doubled from the period in 2008 to 2009.  Steve Walker, head of the HSE’s offshore division, observed that 17 workers had died in other offshore-related travel incidents.  And while the overall numbers of injuries and incidents was low, Walker chastised the industry for allowing the fatal and major injury rate to skyrocket.  Walker expressed additional disappointment that major and significant hydrocarbon leaks were up by more than a third since the previous year.

Malcom Webb, chief executive of Oil and Gas UK, dismissed calls for a moratorium or for the establishment of a European regulatory authority.  Webb and other industry representatives asserted the safety of their operations, and their interest in protecting workers.

For more information on this topic, please visit GulfCoastMaritime.com.

If you have any questions regarding a maritime incident or have suffered a maritime injury, please contact a maritime attorney online at Arnold & Itkin LLP for a free consultation or call our maritime law office toll free at 877-398-4972.

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In a statement released on September 16, National Incident Commander Admiral Thad Allen announced apparent success in a final effort to intercept BP's Macondo well with a relief well.  According to Admiral Allen, various indicators, taken together, gave confidence that the intercept had been completed.

Three days later, Admiral Allen confirmed that a bottom kill of the well was successful after cement was pumped into the well annulus, with the result that "the Macondo well poses no continuing threat to the Gulf of Mexico."

The Macondo well breach and associated Deepwater Horizon disaster left much-publicized misery in their wake.  Those still suffering from the resulting environmental and economic havoc expressed little joy when news of the "final kill" was released.

In addition to killing and injuring workers aboard the Deepwater Horizon drilling platform, the well blowout resulted in over 4 million barrels of oil being released into the Gulf.  The ensuing oil spill closed commercial fishing in thousands of square miles of Gulf of Mexico federal waters, fouled hundreds of miles of Gulf Coast shoreline, and devastated businesses up and down the Gulf Coast.

Scientists studying the aftermath of the massive oil leak are reaching contradictory results as to the severity and longevity of the oil pollution released into the water column.  The findings of a study reported online on September 16 in Science reflect that earlier reports by the government and outside scientists could have been overly optimistic as to the rate at which bacteria might ameliorate the oil spill.  The lead scientist on the study, Biogeochemist David Valentine, with the Department of Earth Science and Marine Science Institute, University of California, Santa Barbara, observed in media reports that much of the oil that gushed from the damaged Macondo well may end up drifting to the sea floor, where it could coat the sediments there.

For expanded coverage of BP's Deepwater Horizon tragedy, together with other maritime law news and information, please visit:

www.Jones-Act-Maritime-Lawyer.com and www.LawyerForYou.com.

For a free consultation about a maritime injury, contact a maritime lawyer at Arnold & Itkin LLP by calling toll free (866) 222-2606.

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Arnold & Itkin LLP maritime attorneys Kurt Arnold and Paul Skrabanek recently filed suit on behalf of an injured Kirby Inland Marine worker.

The worker severely injured his shoulder while he was training another worker about how to throw lines and tie off barges.

The firm's client already had undergone multiple shoulder repair surgeries.  Unfortunately, it was likely that he would require further surgical repairs as part of his continuing recovery from the severe work-related injuries.

The suit is pending in Harris County, Texas.

Attorneys Arnold and Skrabanek look forward to vigorously pursuing their client's damages claims in the pending case.

For more information on Arnold & Itkin LLP and maritime injury claims, please visit:

www.Jones-Act-Maritime-Lawyer.com and

www.LawyerForYou.com.

For a free consultation, contact a maritime lawyer at Arnold & Itkin LLP by calling toll free 877-398-4972.

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Arnold & Itkin LLP maritime lawyers Kurt Arnold and Robert Wynne recently won a substantial settlement for an injured sixty year-old seaman.  The Florida seaman suffered second-degree burns after a flash fire erupted aboard a barge.

The action was filed in Harris County, Texas.  After multiple depositions were taken in pretrial discovery, the parties settled the action for $1.9 million a few weeks short of trial.

Attorneys Arnold and Wynne were proud to achieve another successful outcome in a Jones Act personal injury suit, obtaining much-deserved relief for their injured client.

For more information, please visit:

www.Jones-Act-Maritime-Lawyer.com and www.LawyerForYou.com.

For a free consultation, contact a maritime lawyer at Arnold & Itkin LLP by calling toll free 877-398-4972.

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The United States Department of Transportation continues to promote its new initiative, the "America's Marine Highway" program.  The Department's goal:  enhance the amount of shipping traffic moving through the country's maritime transportation corridors, thereby easing the load on increasingly-congested land routes while reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

The Marine Highway Program has brought benefits to the Gulf Coast, as a sea route across the Gulf, the "M-10," will build on existing container-on-barge service between Brownsville, Texas, and Port Manatee, Florida.  The M-10 route spans five states and ten major metropolitan areas and currently sees service via a single ship that travels on a 10-day interval.  This reflects just one of several routes intended to expand traffic to and from Gulf-based ports.

Funding for the Marine Highway Project is being made pursuant to the second-round Transportation Infrastructure Generating Economic Recovery, or TIGER II, program, itself part of the national economic stimulus program established under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

For additional information on the expansion of the Marine Highway Program, please visit GulfCoastMaritime.com.

If you have any questions regarding a maritime incident or have suffered a maritime injury, contact a maritime attorney online at Arnold & Itkin LLP for a free consultation or call our maritime law office toll free at 866-222-2606.

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Arnold & Itkin LLP maritime attorneys recently filed a Jones Act personal injury suit on behalf of a Houston, Texas, seaman who suffered injuries while working as a vessel crew member.  The plaintiff was employed by Offshore Joint Services, Inc., and was acting as a borrowed seaman for Global Industries Offshore, L.L.C., when the injuries occurred.  The seaman sustained serious back injuries when he was forced to move heavy equipment on the vessel without proper assistance.  Both companies are named as defendants in the maritime case.

The Jones Act case was filed in Harris County, where the injured seaman resides.

Arnold & Itkin LLP's maritime lawyers stand ready to assist their client in obtaining necessary medical attention, and they are proud to advocate on the seaman’s behalf as he seeks recovery for his injuries and the defendants’ negligence and wrongful conduct.

For more information on maritime law topics, visit Arnold & Itkin LLP's maritime injury blog.

For a free consultation, contact a maritime lawyer at Arnold & Itkin LLP by calling toll free (866) 222-2606.

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