Ehline Law Firm Los Angeles Personal Injury Attorneys, APLC / Practice / Admiralty Maritime Lawyer
Legal advisers from other states often refer their clients–who were injured on vacation aboard a ship– to our law firm. Mostly, this is because of our specialized expertise in admiralty and maritime law. So are you also searching for experienced local legal eagles? If so, the California Ehline Law Firm has the traditional skills you seek.
Admiralty and Maritime law cover:
Table Contents:
Admiralty law or maritime law is the distinct body of law (both substantive and procedural) that governs navigation and shipping.
Topics associated with this field in legal reference works may include:
Piracy (ship hijacking) is also an aspect of admiralty. (Source). The Ehline Law Firm has experienced maritime attorneys. And our sole focus is representing the injured crew, passengers, and outsiders. But we only help those hurt in maritime accidents or people distressed by maritime activity or disputes.
In any event, this is a rather vague description of what we do for clients. The intangibles we bring are part of what makes us unique.
Our California maritime attorneys can help with:
Maritime law cases are very involved. Most clients have no clue what they face, and few lawyers understand the challenges they will face when handling a maritime law case. One of the principles that guide the jurisdiction’s decision will be whether maritime laws apply at all. And the court’s ruling can make a significant difference in your negligence or contract claim when seeking protections offered under maritime law.
The merchant seaman injured in a mishap at full sail might know about the Jones Act maritime law that gives a sea-related injury special treatment under federal maritime law. In many cases, the ACT will apply to the plaintiff’s wounds caused by personal watercraft.
Examples include a water maker incorrectly placed on California waters and rivers. In other words, maritime jurisdiction and liability can benefit clients.
Injured seamen are entitled to cure and maintain their employers when they get injured or become ill aboard the ship or in a sea-related mishap.
And this is the “seaman’s right.” Also, it should not end in a maritime law dispute. Plus, there are many seamen with difficulties collecting primary benefits. Most of all, they never get what they could without the experience of a maritime attorney.
When injured or ill during a vessel’s service while on duty, get a lawyer fast, So call the cure and maintenance attorneys at Ehline Law firm now (213) 596-9642.
The injured seaman isn’t required to use their employer’s selected physician. The wounded or ill seamen and not the insurance company can choose their treating physician.
Commercial fishing remains one of the most dangerous industries, even with the advances in technology. In some cases, a greater danger exists in that industry than in earlier years. Because of more demands, short seasons, long hours, and shrinking species, troubles grow.
In other words, this can place extra demands on commercial tuna skippers, crabbers, or ground fishing operations. No doubt, this causes longer work hours for employees, leading to them receiving significant injuries from a lack of proper equipment. Plus, it leads to fatigue-related accidents or deaths in the Pacific fishing industry generally.
The Jones Act covers tragic events onboard, whether you are a captain, processor, engineer, or deckhand at the time of the incident.
Longshoremen, harbor, or dock workers that have been physically mangled or disabled in an on-the-job event on the California waterfront need to contact an experienced longshoremen attorney.
The federal Longshore and Harbor Workers Compensation Act protects the injured person; this also includes stevedores, crane operators, longshore checkers, and others that work in the industry.
This act entitles the worker to recover their medical costs and to receive two-quarters of the weekly pay they made until their injury. This federal act also applies to some gas or oil rig employees that work from fixed offshore platforms.
The federal Longshore and Harbor Workers Compensation Act benefits whether the employer was negligent or not, but the payments will be much less than an employer negligence claim.
The Longshore and Harbor Workers Compensation Act bars the injured worker from suing the employer for negligence. Still, it does permit the employee to bring suit against a third party, such as an equipment manufacturer or shipowner. A victim can file this claim under the general maritime law or state negligence laws.
Other resultant, physically poor conditions might fall under these laws for employees not directly on the water, like the forklift driver who stacks cargo pallets. These pallets could have been incorrectly stacked, handled carelessly, or repacked at sea, causing injury to the forklift driver, which could result in a claim against the owner of the vessel.
The injured seaman is owed the cure and maintenance payment benefits under the maritime law and the Jones Act after fully recovering or suffering a permanent disability.
The federal maritime law provides seamen with a preferred status for payment of wages and when there is a pay dispute for unpaid wages or overtime. The experienced marine practitioner can impose the claim for unpaid wages done by arresting vessels, even when in distant ports, and to enforce maritime liens. Due to naval law, the seaman holds a higher claim than the bank for purchasing money security interest in the vessel!
In some cases, seamen workers may need to enforce their claim for unpaid wages in a state court. State courts will scrutinize claims such as this using the state’s wage and hour’s laws, including overtime wages and maximum work hours. The other worker claims in sea injury law cases will likely fall under the federal maritime wage laws.
Admiralty law covers cruise ship tragedies but does not subsume other local, federal, and state laws. These laws may relate specifically to injuries at sea from negligence, as well as other mishaps, such as oil spills.
How Exactly is Admiralty Law Applied?
Under admiralty, the ship’s flag’s law determines the venue and regulations applicable to the parties. So a sea vessel flying the African flag in the Gulf of Mexico, for example, would be subject to African admiralty jurisdiction.
Most sea vessel registrations remain subject to foreign country jurisdictions. Many of these vessels unfurl foreign flags. The upside could be that some laws covering the vessel might be better for the injured passenger than U.S. laws.
A ship that has its port of departure in Los Angeles, California, may be subject to California’s laws and the United States laws. But it may also be governed, or under the foreign flag, the ship flies and international treaties between the U.S. Our local law firm knows to litigate claims from foreign ports of call and domestic ports of call, such as a Carnival ship.
You may need to bring claims against the U.S. under the Suits in Admiralty Act or Public Vessels Act. Our local California law firm will sue whatever country is responsible for your oceanic injuries, including far-off countries like the Bahamas. An experienced admiralty law attorney may help you solve these problems quickly.
Many ways exist to prevent shipboard injuries. Dangerous conditions on the vessel can result in injury, such as a slip and fall on a wet deck. A passenger may contract food poisoning or assault by another passenger. Excessive speed may cause a vessel to capsize or to ram jagged rocks or another ocean liner.
A boat may be overloaded, which can cause “swamping,” result in passenger or crew deaths or serious bodily harm. Mishaps involving ships and people in the water like swimmers, scuba divers, water skiers can result from careless or reckless ocean-going vessel operations by boat captains.
Certain types of personal injury cases allow lawsuits against government agencies. An example includes the case of a U.S. Navy Submarine. Readers may recall the incident of the U.S. sub sinking a Japanese boat off of Hawaii. You must hire a lawyer who understands litigating Public Vessels Act cases.
Some cases allow a victim to hold the federal government liable, including tragic situations like a boat or vessel are struck by a Coast Guard vessel. In a case such as this, the victims can file the Admiralty Act claims against the federal government for the negligent rescue. Cases involving boats striking unmarked underwater obstacles may not seem like something you can sue the U.S. government over. Still, our Army Corps of Engineers is responsible for maintaining many buoys. Get it?
Many circumstances beyond one’s control occur while working in the offshore oil and gas industry, in which the Jones Act protects the workers. These same maritime laws do not cover some offshore oil and gas employee injuries that occur on the platforms.
There are specific situations where the Jones Act and maritime laws can protect the injured worker or their family.
When the unforeseen facts indicate they could be limited to no fault recovery under California or even Florida Workers Compensation law(s), another option exists for the victim. The Jones Act, maritime or admiralty law claim might be possible against a negligent party such as a third party.
Injuries to professional, recreational divers and commercial divers can happen in many ways, including:
Our professionals understand the dangers, along with the excitement of diving. When diving is a part of a vacation resort or ocean cruise package, the novice diver will only receive minimal diving education and training from their host before they dive.
Injuries Include:
As a recreational diver suffering distress or impairment from diving, there are many potential defendants and claims, including:
Federal admiralty jurisdiction might cover the claim if the dive spot was in navigable waters. So if that is where the scuba diving misfortune occurred, time to sue.
Experienced government agency claims attorneys stand ready at Ehline Law. If need be, we can even look at naming the government as the defendant. Most of all, admiralty jurisdiction includes many public entities.
But other defendants are also responsible. These include:
All these persons and entities may reach defendant status in maritime cases.
Some government agencies frequently named as defendants in maritime catastrophes:
Navigable waters are large water masses running over all oceanic bodies in the world. So that means lakes and rivers are usually involved in commerce or commercial shipping. Navigable waters include territorial waters, like U.S. waterways. Navigable waters also make up the deep-blue “high-seas.”
Territorial waters are waterways close to a landmass. High seas are waterways far away from a continent. Sometimes it is difficult to tell when a watercourse is territorial or on the high seas. In some U.S. states, territorial waters usually are three miles from land. The boundaries in territorial waters of some U.S. States are sometimes hard to determine. Dead reckoning is typically hard to do, let alone with a jagged coastline or the gulf stream off Georgia or Florida.
When it comes to maritime law, the Ehline Law Firm has the experience you desire. We remain the viable experts nearest you who people call to represent them in both state and federal courts adequately. We work hard for our clients to recover the damages they deserve. Call us now at (213) 596-9642. Or use our free and convenient website contact form today.
Downtown Los Angeles Office
633 West 5th Street #2890
Los Angeles, CA 90071
(213) 596-9642
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Downtown Los Angeles Office
633 West 5th Street #2890
Los Angeles, CA 90071
(213) 596-9642
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