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

The maritime lawyers at Arnold & Itkin LLP recently filed suit in Galveston County, Texas, on behalf of an injured shrimp boat crew member who contracted a dangerous staph infection on his dominant hand. The injured seaman, a resident of Ft. Worth, Texas, contracted the infection while working offshore on a vessel owned by Trico Shrimp Company of Freeport, Texas, which is in Brazoria County.

In the United States, maritime law requires shipowners to provide maintenance and cure benefits to seamen who are injured in the course of their employment until they are either fit to return to duty or they reach a state of maximum medical improvement. The maintenance benefit covers basic room and board expenses, whereas the cure benefit provides for reasonable medical expenses needed to treat the injured seaman. Unfortunately, in this case Trico refused to pay any maintenance or cure.

Arnold & Itkin LLP is proud to help this seaman get the medical attention he deserves in the hope that he will be able to regain full use of his hand.

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A 60-year-old man who fell from a fishing vessel in the Gulf of Mexico about 20 miles off the coast of South Padre Island, Texas, remains missing. The Coast Guard, which received a mayday call from a crewmember on the Si Se Puede minutes before midnight last Saturday night, is searching for the missing man, who was the master of the boat.

An HH-65C helicopter rescue crew and an HU-25 Falcon jet from Air Station Corpus Christi and a 33-foot rescue boat from Station South Padre Island were dispatched to the location from which the call was placed. An 87-foot patrol boat, the Coast Guard Cutter Manatee, also joined the search.

If the accident results in a fatality, legal claims for compensation could be complicated by the fact that the missing seaman was reported to be without a life jacket. A maritime lawyer defending the shipowner could try to prove that the vessel had sufficient life jackets on board, thereby reducing or even nullifying a negligence claim.

Also worth considering:

• Does the boat have a policy about crew members wearing life jackets? If so, why wasn’t the missing man wearing one? If such a policy was in place and he simply chose not to, could that limit, or perhaps eliminate, the shipowner’s liability. However, ships are required to have life jackets for each person on board, and if a maritime attorney can prove that not enough life jackets were provided, the liability in the case likely would be judged to have fallen back on the vessel’s owner.
• If life jackets were available and not worn, could the water conditions dictate the level of liability for the owner? A maritime attorney might argue that mild water conditions reduced the need for the missing man to wear his life jacket, but if the vessel has a known or posted policy, that argument likely would carry less weight.
• Was Si Se Puede seaworthy for the conditions in which it was operating? If the vessel were judged unseaworthy, the shipowner could be deemed negligent, and as such, would likely be liable to compensate the missing man’s surviving family.
• Did the vessel have adequate gear for handling a man overboard situation, such as a throwable PFD, an emergency beacon (EPIRB), and a MOB recovery system (e.g. Lifesling)? Was the crew adequately trained and prepared for a MOB emergency? Was a crew member designated as a watchkeeper? All of these could have a bearing in determining whether any negligence was involved in this accident or not.
  
  Since the missing seaman was the master of Si Se Puede, any claims seeking compensation likely would fall under the Jones Act. In order to seek Jones Act coverage, a seaman or his surviving family must prove that the seaman was a “regular” member of a crew in service to a vessel on navigable waters. The current court ruling defines “regular” crew members as employees who spend 30 percent (or more) of their available working time on a single vessel or fleet of vessels under common ownership. Since the accident occurred approximately 20 miles off the coast, the Death on the High Seas Act (DOHSA) would also apply. However, an experienced maritime lawyer would likely prosecute a Jones Act claim due to the higher awards provided to Jones Act seamen or their surviving families under that statute.

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Tropical Storm Dolly in the Gulf of Mexico is expected to strengthen and could pose a serious threat to maritime activities along the Texas coast by midweek. The National Weather Service has issued a hurricane watch for the Texas coast from Brownsville northward to Port O'Connor. A tropical storm watch has been issued for the Texas coast from north of Port O'Connor to San Luis Pass.

MSNBC.com reports in Dolly drenches Yucatan, Texas could be next: Hurricane Watch issued for Texas coastline near Mexican border:

"Emergency officials across Texas are monitoring the storm's track and moving some resources toward the Corpus Christi area, NBC affiliate KPRC reported.

Shell evacuated about 125 personnel from some of its Gulf of Mexico West operations on Sunday, KPRC added. Another 60 people were expected to be evacuated on Monday.

The company said it does not expect Dolly to have an impact on its gulf production."

At 11:00 AM EDT today the center of Tropical Storm Dolly was located about 55 miles north-northeast of Progreso Mexico.  Dolly is moving toward the west-northwest near 18 mph. A gradual decrease in forward speed is forecast during the next couple of days with little change in the direction of motion.  On this track, Dolly will be approaching the coast of the western Gulf of Mexico by Wednesday.

Maximum sustained winds are near 50 mph with higher gusts. Tropical storm force winds extend outward up to 175 miles from the center. Strengthening is forecast and Dolly could become a hurricane by tomorrow.

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Houston Jones Act lawyers Arnold & Itkin LLP filed suit against the owners and operators of the Seban, a ship used off the coast of Texas in operations in the Gulf of Mexico.  Plaintiffs seek damages for the wrongful death of Mr. Jimenez, who was killed when the Seban caught fire.  The Seban was owned and operated by Otto Candies LLC and was being chartered by Oceangraphia, a Mexican offshore company which owns a substantial part of its fleet in Houston Texas.  After the ship caught fire, over 150 workers were left in the water stranded because the satellite services provided failed.  Unfortunately, Mr. Jimenez died as a result of the defendants' negligence and neglect.

 

 

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The Houston Chronicle reported today that Texas A&M deputy chancellor and general counsel, Jay Kimbrough, has promised a thorough investigation into what may have caused the keel to break off the sailing vessel CYNTHIA WOODS leading to its capsize and the death of one crew member.  The boat was donated to A&M by the school's biggest benefactor, George Marshall, and was built by a company that is owned by Mitchell's son, facts that Kimbrough assures will not influence the investigation.  The investigation, which is already underway, will include a search for and attempt to recover the boat's keel which lies somewhere beneath 80 to 120 feet of water at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico, near Freeport, Texas.  The salvage company T & T Marine towed the vessel to shore and will be leading the search for its keel.

The challenge of locating and recovering the boat's keel merely hints at the complexity of investigating  maritime incidents.  Thorough investigation will require understanding not only the conditions and events immediately preceding the capsize, but also every potentially contributing factor leading up to it, beginning from the time the boat was originally constructed.  The loss of the boat's keel could be an indication of structural issues affecting not only the CYNTHIA WOODS, but other Cape Fear 38 sailboats as well.  Other factors that must be discovered and evaluated include the boat's maintenance history and sailing history, both of which may be documented in logs, service invoices, payment instruments, and other records.

If you or a loved one has been seriously injured or killed in a maritime accident, and you require the expertise of experienced investigators to unravel the complexity and find answers, the Texas maritime lawyers at Arnold & Itkin LLP can help.  Contact our Houston maritime law firm for a free initial consultation.

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The Houston Chronicle reported that seven boaters where rescued from an oil platform after their boat sank on Sunday.  The boaters were rescued by the Galveston, Texas Coast Guard after an offshore supply ship relayed a distressed call.  The rescued boaters included five adults and two children.  The rescued boaters are reported to be in good condition, their survival owing partly to the fact that all were wearing life vests.

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Galveston, Texas sailor Roger Stone died saving the lives of fellow crew when the Sailing Vessel CYNTHIA WOODS capsized south of Freeport, Texas.  Five sailors were rescued by the Coast Guard after floating in the Gulf of Mexico following the capsize of their boat 26 hours earlier.

Stone, who was the Safety Officer aboard the boat which was participating in the Regata de Amigos race from Galveston to Veracruz, reportedly noticed water entering the hull and forced other crew on to the deck immediately prior to the capsize.  Early indications are that the boat's keel fell off causing the boat to rapidly take on water, capsize and sink.

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The Galveston County Daily News reported that crews were working to contain an oil spill that occurred about 140 miles southeast of Galveston, Texas.  The oil spill occurred when an offshore supply ship collided with the rig it was servicing.  The collision with the rig caused two gashes in the ship's hull. No seaman or workers on the rig were injured in the accident.

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Galveston County Daily News reported that a Louisiana welder was killed when he fell from an offshore oil rig platform where he was working in the Gulf of Mexico.  Church Point, Louisiana welder Thomas Broussard was killed Monday morning when he fell 100-feet from an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico, four miles south of Galveston island.

At the time the story was published, OSHA was not yet investigating the fatal offshore accident because they had not yet received an official report of the worker's death.  Broussard worked for worked for Frank’s Casing Crew and Rental Tools, an engineering services company based in Louisiana.

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The Coast Guard medevaced a 52-year-old man from an oil rig platform approximately 40 miles east of Venice, Louisiana, in the Gulf of Mexico, this morning.

A watchstander from Coast Guard Sector New Orleans received a call at 7:48 a.m. from a co-worker on the Viosca Knoll 900 oil rig reporting that a man had suffered from a heart attack.

Air Station New Orleans launched an HH-65C rescue helicopter crew to assist.  The helicopter crew hoisted and transported the man to Air Station New Orleans where he was met by an ambulance and transported to West Jefferson Hospital. The man is listed in stable condition.

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