Injured Offshore? Understand Your Rights and Compensation Options

Here is the honest starting point. An offshore injury may give you a right to benefits during recovery, a right to bring a damages claim against a responsible party, or both. Which of those you actually have depends on what you did for a living, how your work connected to a vessel or structure, what happened, and which law applies. It is not determined by your job title, the name on your paycheck, or your location alone. Those are facts to investigate, not answers.

You do not have to figure out the right legal category before asking for help. Sorting out coverage is the first thing a lawyer does in a review like this. The Young Firm handles Jones Act and maritime injury cases from New Orleans, representing workers across Louisiana and the Gulf Coast. This page is meant to help you understand the landscape before that conversation, and it is a supporting guide to the firm's broader page on help with an offshore injury claim.

One distinction runs through everything below, so it is worth stating plainly now. Some money an injured offshore worker receives is support during recovery: medical care and living-expense or disability payments that certain laws require regardless of who was at fault. Other money is compensation for legal liability: damages recovered because an employer, vessel owner, or another company was negligent or provided an unsafe vessel. They are paid under different rules, and one is not a substitute for the other.

What Should I Do Immediately After an Offshore Injury?

Get medical care first. Nothing below is worth delaying emergency treatment. If your first care is from a medic on the rig or vessel, report every symptom, not just the one that seems worst, and do not wait for crew change to seek shoreside treatment if your condition calls for it.

Then, as soon as you reasonably can:

• Report the injury to your employer, accurately and promptly. You do not need a lawyer to do this, and you should not wait for one. Describe what happened truthfully, including anything about the deck, equipment, weather, staffing, or work method that contributed. If you are asked to sign an incident report, read it and correct anything that is wrong before signing. A report that says "no unsafe condition" when there was one will follow you.
• Understand that an incident report is not the same as a recorded statement. Companies and their insurers sometimes ask for a recorded or written interview soon after an accident. That is a different thing from reporting the injury. You are entitled to understand what the interview is for and to ask for time before giving one, and you should know that recorded statements are taken to evaluate liability. Do not lie or refuse to report an injury; do consider getting advice before sitting for a recorded interview.
• Follow medical advice and keep your restrictions in writing. If a doctor gives you work restrictions, keep a copy. If you feel pressure to return before you are ready, tell your treating provider exactly what your job requires and let the medical record reflect it.
• Keep what is lawfully yours. Useful records include your own written account of the incident (dates, times, names of coworkers who saw it), discharge papers and treatment notes given to you, work restrictions, pay stubs and schedules, correspondence about payments or benefits, and copies of anything you signed. Do not take restricted company documents, photograph areas you are not permitted to photograph, or alter any record. Ask for copies through proper channels.
• Do not sign a release or accept a "final" settlement without understanding it. A routine benefit payment and a release can both arrive on company letterhead, and they do very different things. A release is a document in which you give up claims; its terms decide what it covers and whether it holds up. If a document mentions "release," "full and final," "settlement," or "waiver," have it reviewed before you sign. Do not stop accepting ordinary benefits you need out of fear that they will cost you a claim; do ask what conditions attach to any payment described as an advance.

You do not need to refuse every call from the company or every medical appointment it schedules. Cooperation with legitimate reporting and treatment is expected. The point is to know which communications are routine and which ones carry legal weight. If you are a Longshore Act worker, the statute's own notice and claim requirements start running early; see LHWCA notice and filing deadlines.

Which Rights Apply: Jones Act, Longshore Benefits, or Another System?

Offshore workers do not all have the same legal rights. Two people can be hurt on the same day, in the same field, doing similar-looking work, and end up under entirely different laws. The reason is that federal maritime law sorts workers by their relationship to a vessel and by the nature of the structure and operation. Location, job title, and payroll label each matter as facts, but none of them decides the question alone.

Three frameworks come up most often.

The Jones Act (46 U.S.C. § 30104) gives a "seaman" injured in the course of employment the right to sue the employer for negligence, with a jury trial. It is a liability statute: you have to prove the employer did something wrong. Seaman status is the gate. Under Chandris, Inc. v. Latsis, 515 U.S. 347 (1995), a seaman's duties must contribute to the function of a vessel or the accomplishment of its mission, and the worker must have a connection to a vessel (or an identifiable fleet of vessels) in navigation that is substantial in both duration and nature. Courts generally examine the worker's employment connection to the vessel or fleet over the relevant period rather than a single hitch, but a substantial change in assignment can change which period counts, which matters for rotating or reassigned workers. Whether the thing you worked on is a "vessel" at all is a separate legal question; a jack-up rig, a liftboat, and a fixed production platform are analyzed differently. The full analysis is at whether you qualify as a Jones Act seaman.

The Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act (LHWCA) is a federal workers' compensation system. It pays medical and disability benefits without requiring proof of employer fault, and in exchange it generally bars a negligence suit against the employer. It covers certain maritime workers who are not seamen.

The Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA, 43 U.S.C. § 1333) extends LHWCA benefits to workers injured as a result of operations on the outer continental shelf for exploring, developing, or producing natural resources. Under Pacific Operators Offshore, LLP v. Valladolid, 565 U.S. 207 (2012), the injury does not have to happen physically on the shelf; what matters is whether there is a substantial nexus between the injury and the employer's shelf operations. The extension carries its own exclusions, including for crew members of vessels, and it does not reach every worker on every structure. OCSLA also affects which law governs a negligence claim against a platform operator or contractor, sometimes borrowing adjacent-state law as federal law. Coverage under OCSLA is not automatic just because a platform sits in federal waters.

Some offshore injuries fall outside all three. A worker on a fixed structure in state waters may be under a state compensation system. A federal or foreign employer can change the analysis. That is why the review has to start with facts, not labels.

How the routes compare

Two deliberately hypothetical contrasts show how this plays out. A worker permanently assigned to a liftboat crew who rides the boat from job to job has a strong argument that the liftboat is a vessel and the work is sea-based. A production operator who lives and works on a fixed platform anchored to the seabed, and who rides a crew boat only to get there, is not analyzed as a crew member of that platform, because a fixed platform is not a vessel; if the platform is engaged in qualifying resource operations on the shelf, the injury has the required nexus to those operations, and no statutory exclusion applies, OCSLA-extended LHWCA coverage is the framework to examine. Neither example is a determination. A contract worker who rotates between the two, or who spends most of a hitch on a vessel tied up alongside a platform, needs a careful look at the whole employment history.

Where you live and where you crew out does not settle any of this. Many Gulf workers leave from Port Fourchon and return home to Louisiana, but residence and departure port do not decide coverage, governing law, or where a case can be filed. They are facts to note, not answers.

For coverage under the compensation statute, see Longshore Act claim options. For how fixed-structure work is treated, see offshore platform injuries.

Can I Sue After an Offshore Work Injury?

A lawsuit may be possible, but not every offshore injury permits one against your employer. If you qualify as a seaman, the Jones Act allows you to sue your employer for negligence, and general maritime law may allow a separate unseaworthiness claim against the vessel owner. If you are covered by the LHWCA, the statute generally makes benefits your exclusive remedy against your employer, though claims against a negligent vessel owner or other third party may remain. Who you can sue depends on your coverage, on who your legal employer is, and on each company's actual role in what happened.

Three kinds of claims are worth keeping separate in your mind, without getting into the proof required for each.

Employer negligence. Under 46 U.S.C. § 30104, a seaman can sue the employer for injuries caused by the employer's negligence: an unsafe work method, inadequate crew, poor training, a failure to fix a known hazard. Under the LHWCA, 33 U.S.C. § 905(a) generally makes the employer's liability for benefits exclusive, which is why LHWCA workers usually cannot sue their own employer for negligence.

Unseaworthiness. A seaman may also have a claim against the vessel owner for an unseaworthy condition: defective equipment, an unsafe deck, an inadequate crew. This is a separate claim with its own standard, and it is available only to seamen. See unseaworthiness claims.

Third-party liability. Offshore worksites involve many companies: the operator that holds the lease, the drilling contractor, the vessel owner, service contractors, equipment manufacturers, the catering company. A company that was negligent and caused your injury may be liable even if it is not your employer. For LHWCA workers, 33 U.S.C. § 905(b) preserves a negligence claim against a vessel owner, but that claim is limited to specific duties the vessel owes and does not turn every vessel owner into a defendant. See third-party maritime injury claims and LHWCA Section 905(b) vessel claims.

Two cautions.

First, a company's presence at the site does not make it liable or even make it a permissible defendant. Liability requires a legal duty and a breach of it. Part of a rights review is identifying which companies actually controlled the work, the equipment, or the vessel, and which had nothing to do with the cause of the injury.

Second, the company whose name is on your paycheck is not necessarily your legal employer for these purposes. Offshore labor is often supplied through staffing companies, and a worker who is directed and controlled day to day by a different company may be treated as that company's "borrowed" employee. That determination can change who is protected by employer exclusivity, who owes benefits, and who can be sued. It is a fact question that needs investigation, not something to assume from payroll records.

For the negligence claim itself, start with Jones Act claims.

Who May Pay Medical Bills and Help With Living Costs While I Cannot Work?

Qualifying seamen are owed maintenance and cure by their employer under general maritime law: a daily living allowance and payment of reasonable medical care, without having to prove anyone was at fault. Qualifying LHWCA workers are owed medical benefits for the injury and, if the injury results in disability as the statute defines it, disability compensation, also without proof of fault. These are different remedies with different rules. Neither replaces your full paycheck, and neither is the same thing as a damages award.

This is often the most urgent question, and both major frameworks provide some support during recovery that does not depend on winning a negligence case.

Maintenance and cure (seamen). Maintenance is a daily amount meant to cover food and lodging while you recover ashore. Cure is payment of medical treatment reasonably necessary to reach maximum medical improvement, the point at which further treatment is not expected to improve your condition. The employer owes both regardless of fault, subject to narrow exceptions, and the obligation generally continues until maximum medical improvement is reached. The Supreme Court has described the duty as one owed without regard to fault and has directed that doubts about it be resolved in the seaman's favor, Vaughan v. Atkinson, 369 U.S. 527 (1962), and has held that it runs until the seaman reaches maximum cure rather than for as long as the seaman remains disabled, Farrell v. United States, 336 U.S. 511 (1949). When that point has been reached is a medical question, not a company decision. Maintenance rates, who chooses the doctor, how long benefits last, and what happens when payments are cut off are handled in depth at maintenance and cure benefits, medical treatment rights under cure, MMI and duration of benefits, and denied or terminated maintenance and cure.

LHWCA medical and disability benefits. Covered workers are entitled to medical care for the injury under 33 U.S.C. § 907. Disability compensation under § 908 is available when the injury results in a disability the statute recognizes, calculated from average weekly wage and subject to statutory limits and schedules. Benefits are paid by the employer or its insurer and administered through the U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Workers' Compensation Programs. Details are at LHWCA medical and disability benefits.

Company wage continuation and advances. Some employers keep an injured worker on the payroll or pay "light duty" wages; some advance money against a future settlement. These are company decisions, and they are not all the same. Ordinary benefits you need should not be turned down out of fear. An advance against settlement is different: it usually comes with conditions, and it may be credited against a later recovery, so ask what is attached to it before accepting. In either case, the label on a company payment does not prove which law covers you. An employer paying something it calls "maintenance" does not make you a seaman, and an employer processing a claim through a compensation carrier does not mean you are not one. Payment descriptions, denial letters, and the identity of the carrier are clues to how the company has classified you; they are not the final word.

If treatment is being delayed, a surgery has not been approved, or payments have stopped, that is a reason for prompt review. It is not a guarantee that benefits will be reinstated. Whether a cutoff was lawful depends on the medical record, the reason given, and which remedy is at issue. Be cautious of anyone who tells you that you can always pick your own doctor, always refuse a company examination, or always keep receiving payments; those rules differ by regime and by situation.

Can Offshore Compensation Cover Future Care, Lost Earnings, and Pain?

It depends on the claim. In a liability case, whether under the Jones Act, unseaworthiness, or third-party negligence, a worker who proves responsibility may recover damages such as past and future medical expenses, past lost wages, lost future earning capacity, and pain and suffering. LHWCA benefits follow statutory formulas for medical care and disability compensation and do not include an award for pain and suffering. Maintenance and cure covers living expenses and medical care during recovery, not lost earning capacity or pain. No category is guaranteed, and no responsible lawyer can quote a value without the evidence.

Keeping the two tracks separate matters here more than anywhere else.

Benefits that do not depend on fault are limited by design. LHWCA disability compensation is a statutory percentage of average weekly wage, capped, and paid according to whether the disability is temporary or permanent, total or partial, and whether the injured body part is on the statutory schedule. Maintenance and cure is a general maritime law remedy rather than a statutory formula, but it is confined to a daily allowance and reasonable medical care, and it generally ends at maximum medical improvement. Neither asks how much your life has changed.

Liability damages are designed to compensate the actual loss. The Jones Act incorporates the remedies of the Federal Employers' Liability Act, 45 U.S.C. §§ 51–60, into a seaman's negligence action. If negligence or unseaworthiness is proven, the categories can include the cost of future care and rehabilitation, the difference between what you could earn before and what you can earn now over your working life, and non-economic harm such as pain, disfigurement, and loss of enjoyment of life. The method for calculating lost future earnings in maritime injury cases is addressed in Jones & Laughlin Steel Corp. v. Pfeifer, 462 U.S. 523 (1983), and, in the Fifth Circuit, Culver v. Slater Boat Co., 722 F.2d 114 (5th Cir. 1983) (en banc). These must be proven with evidence, and they can be reduced if a jury finds you partly at fault (45 U.S.C. § 53, as incorporated by 46 U.S.C. § 30104; Pope & Talbot, Inc. v. Hawn, 346 U.S. 406 (1953)).

What determines the assessment is not a formula but a set of records: your medical prognosis and permanent restrictions, your work history and the physical demands of offshore jobs, your earnings, and the strength of the evidence that someone else was responsible. For offshore workers, earnings documentation deserves attention because rotation schedules, day rates, overtime, and offshore premiums can make actual annual earnings much higher than a base rate suggests. That is a fact to document with pay stubs, tax returns, and schedules, not a multiplier to apply.

You will find settlement calculators and "average payout" figures online. They are not useful for your case. The detailed treatment of Jones Act valuation is at Jones Act compensation and damages, and statutory benefit calculations are at LHWCA medical and disability benefits. For a family dealing with a fatal offshore accident, the compensation rules are different and are addressed at maritime wrongful death claims.

Receiving Payments Is Not the Same as Signing Away a Claim

Injured workers often assume one of two wrong things: that cashing a company check means they have given up the right to sue, or that anything the company hands them is routine. Neither is right, and both mistakes come from not distinguishing the documents.

Routine benefits are payments the company or its carrier makes while your claim is open: maintenance checks, compensation payments, medical bills paid to a provider. Accepting these does not, by itself, release a negligence claim. Advances against a future settlement sit in a different category and should be reviewed for their conditions before you accept them.

Releases and settlement agreements are contracts in which you give up claims in exchange for payment. Under maritime law, a seaman's release is scrutinized more closely than an ordinary contract because of the traditional protection courts extend to seamen; the party relying on the release bears the burden of showing it was executed freely, without deception or coercion, and with an understanding of the rights being given up, Garrett v. Moore-McCormack Co., 317 U.S. 239 (1942). That does not mean a signed release is meaningless. Under the LHWCA, settlements of compensation claims require approval under 33 U.S.C. § 908(i), and 33 U.S.C. § 933 governs the interaction between benefits and third-party recoveries. Settling a third-party claim without the employer's or carrier's written approval, where that approval is required, can forfeit future compensation benefits. Amounts recovered from a third party may also be subject to a lien or credit in favor of the party that paid benefits.

Three practical points follow.

• Overlapping remedies do not mean double recovery. If a compensation carrier paid your medical bills and you later recover those same bills from a negligent third party, expect the carrier to be repaid from that recovery. Coordinating these amounts is part of settlement planning, not a surprise to be discovered afterward.
• Review the actual documents, including ones you have already signed. The words "in consideration of," "full and final," "release," "hold harmless," and "all claims, known or unknown" mean something. If you signed something at a clinic, on the crew boat, or in a personnel office, keep a copy and have it read. A signed document is not automatically the end of the discussion.
• Do not treat every payment as a trap or every document as harmless. Context decides. A maintenance check is a maintenance check. A "receipt" that also contains release language may operate as a release, depending on its terms and how it was obtained.

How claims and benefits interact in detail, including credits, liens, and approval requirements, is addressed at third-party claims alongside maritime benefits.

What If the Company Says I Am at Fault or Should Return to Work?

Each of these pressure points deserves a straight answer.

The company says the accident was my fault. Does that end my rights? No, not by itself. The company's view of fault is a position, not a finding. Under the Jones Act and general maritime law, a worker's own negligence does not bar a claim; it can reduce damages in proportion to the worker's share of fault, and even that requires proof (45 U.S.C. § 53, as incorporated by 46 U.S.C. § 30104; Pope & Talbot, Inc. v. Hawn, 346 U.S. 406 (1953)). Fault-based defenses differ by remedy. Maintenance and cure is owed regardless of carelessness; the Supreme Court has held that a seaman's ordinary negligence does not defeat it, and that the recognized exceptions are narrow ones such as willful misbehavior, Aguilar v. Standard Oil Co., 318 U.S. 724 (1943). Those exceptions have to be evaluated on the facts; see maintenance and cure eligibility issues. LHWCA compensation is not denied for ordinary carelessness either; the statute's own exclusions, such as an injury caused solely by the worker's intoxication or willful intent to injure, are set out at 33 U.S.C. § 903(c). What the company says on an incident report matters for evidence, which is why accuracy at the reporting stage is so important, but it does not decide the case.

The company says I am not a seaman, or that I am a "contractor," or that I am covered by workers' comp. Is that the end of it? No. Your legal status is determined by what you actually did, how long and in what way you were connected to a vessel, and who directed your work, not by the label on your personnel file or the carrier the company chose to notify. Companies classify workers for their own reasons, sometimes correctly and sometimes not. If the classification is wrong, the remedies change. This is one of the core questions a review has to answer, and it is covered at whether you qualify as a Jones Act seaman.

I am being told to come back to work, or offered "light duty," and I do not feel ready. What should I do? Report your symptoms accurately to your treating provider and describe your actual job duties, including lifting, climbing, sea state, and hitch length. Whether you can safely return is a medical question, and your restrictions should be in writing from the professional treating you. Returning against restrictions can worsen the injury and complicate both treatment and any claim. Refusing a genuinely suitable position can have consequences under some frameworks, so the answer is not "never go back"; it is "make sure the decision is based on your medical restrictions rather than on scheduling pressure." If you are a seaman and the dispute is about treatment itself, such as a company doctor's release or a denied referral, see medical treatment rights under cure.

I am afraid I will be fired or blacklisted if I make a claim. The fear is understandable in an industry where reputation travels between companies. Some federal laws prohibit retaliation against maritime workers for specific protected activities, such as filing a compensation claim or reporting safety concerns. Whether a particular protection applies depends on the statute, the activity, and the facts, and no lawyer can honestly promise that your job is safe or that a retaliation claim will succeed. What you can do is document what is said to you and when, keep communications in writing where possible, and raise the concern in your review so it can be evaluated under the rules that actually apply. Employer negligence issues that often come up alongside these concerns, including unsafe work methods and understaffing, are discussed at Jones Act negligence.

Reporting an Injury and Filing a Claim Have Different Deadlines

There is no single deadline for every offshore injury. Reporting an injury to your company is essential, but it does not necessarily satisfy every notice requirement, and it does not file a claim or a lawsuit. The LHWCA has its own written-notice requirement and a separate claim-filing period, each with statutory qualifications. Maritime personal injury suits under 46 U.S.C. § 30106 generally must be brought within three years, but shorter or different periods can apply to particular defendants and claims. Have the dates reviewed early.

Two clocks are running, and they measure different things.

Notice is telling the employer about the injury. Under the LHWCA, written notice is due within a short statutory period, with exceptions in defined circumstances. Prompt, accurate reporting protects you here, and it also fixes the accident in the record before memories fade. Do not assume that a verbal report or a company incident form satisfies every statutory notice step.

Filing is starting a claim or lawsuit. An LHWCA claim must be filed with the Department of Labor within the statute's filing period, which can be affected by voluntary payment of compensation and by when you knew of the connection between the injury and your work. A Jones Act or general maritime negligence suit is governed by the three-year baseline in 46 U.S.C. § 30106, running from when the cause of action arose. Claims involving government-owned vessels or other government defendants can carry different and shorter requirements. Claims governed by borrowed state law under OCSLA may follow a different period altogether.

The facts that matter for a deadline review are the accident date; when you first knew or should have known the injury was related to your work, which matters for gradual or occupational injuries; any notice you already gave and when; the dates of any benefit payments; and the identity of each potential defendant, since different defendants may be subject to different rules.

Two warnings. Do not treat three years as a safe waiting period; it is the outside limit for one type of claim, not a schedule. And do not assume that ongoing negotiations, an adjuster's promises, or continued benefit payments have paused every deadline. Some payments affect some deadlines under some statutes. None of that is a reason to wait.

Jones Act orientation is at Jones Act claims. Compensation-statute reporting and filing detail is at LHWCA notice and filing deadlines.

What a Rights-and-Compensation Review Needs to Establish

You do not need a complete file to start. Most workers contact a lawyer with a partial picture, and part of the review is figuring out what else to gather and how to get it through proper channels. What helps most at the outset is your own account of the following:

• The name and type of the vessel, rig, or platform you were on when injured, and where it was
• Your job title, what you actually did day to day, and your assignment history over the past year or more
• The company that paid you, and any different company that directed your work
• The date of the injury (or when symptoms first appeared), what you were doing, and what you believe caused it
• Whether and how you reported it, and to whom
• Where you have been treated, your current restrictions, and whether you have returned to work in any capacity
• Any payments you have received and what they were called, any letters from the company, an insurer, or the Department of Labor, and anything you signed

Bring what you have. If you lack medical records, earnings records, or benefit correspondence, say so; those can be requested properly later. Do not try to obtain restricted company documents on your own.

A review of this kind has four objectives: determine which law or laws may cover you; identify every company whose role could make it responsible; separate the benefits you may be owed now from the damages that would require proving liability; and check every applicable deadline against the dates you provide. It does not promise a particular result, and it should not promise one. It gives you an informed basis for deciding what to do.

Legal Sources for This Offshore Rights Guide

This guide explains possible legal routes for injured offshore workers. It is not a determination of any individual's coverage, claim, or entitlement. Whether any statement here applies to you depends on your facts and on the law governing your situation, which may include authorities not discussed on this page.

The principal authorities referenced above are listed here so they can be checked against current controlling law. Statutory text, judicial interpretation, and agency guidance carry different weight and are identified as such.

Statutes

• Jones Act, 46 U.S.C. § 30104 (seaman's negligence action against employer, with jury trial; incorporation of FELA remedies)
• Federal Employers' Liability Act, 45 U.S.C. §§ 51–60, as incorporated by the Jones Act, including § 53 (contributory negligence reduces rather than bars recovery)
• 46 U.S.C. § 30106 (three-year limitations baseline for maritime personal injury actions)
• Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act, 33 U.S.C. § 903(c) (statutory exclusions for injuries caused solely by intoxication or willful intent), § 905 (employer exclusivity and vessel-negligence claims), § 907 (medical benefits), § 908 (disability compensation), § 908(i) (approval of compensation settlements), §§ 912–913 (notice and claim filing), § 933 (third-party recoveries, approval, and effect on benefits)
• Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, 43 U.S.C. § 1333 (extension of LHWCA, exclusions, and applicable law on the shelf)

Court decisions

• Chandris, Inc. v. Latsis, 515 U.S. 347 (1995) (seaman-status framework; duration and nature of vessel connection)
• Pacific Operators Offshore, LLP v. Valladolid, 565 U.S. 207 (2012) (substantial-nexus test for OCSLA's LHWCA extension)
• Vaughan v. Atkinson, 369 U.S. 527 (1962) (maintenance and cure owed without regard to fault; doubts resolved in the seaman's favor)
• Farrell v. United States, 336 U.S. 511 (1949) (maintenance and cure continues until maximum cure, not for the duration of disability)
• Aguilar v. Standard Oil Co., 318 U.S. 724 (1943) (seaman's ordinary negligence does not defeat maintenance and cure; exceptions limited to willful misbehavior and similar conduct)
• Pope & Talbot, Inc. v. Hawn, 346 U.S. 406 (1953) (comparative fault in maritime personal injury claims)
• Jones & Laughlin Steel Corp. v. Pfeifer, 462 U.S. 523 (1983) (calculation of lost future earnings in maritime injury damages)
• Culver v. Slater Boat Co., 722 F.2d 114 (5th Cir. 1983) (en banc) (method for computing future lost earnings in Fifth Circuit maritime cases)
• Garrett v. Moore-McCormack Co., 317 U.S. 239 (1942) (burden on party relying on a seaman's release to show it was freely and knowingly executed)

Agency guidance

• U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Workers' Compensation Programs, Division of Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation, coverage, benefits, and procedure guidance

Practical observations on this page about company payments, documents, and worksite relationships are stated at a general level. How they apply to any particular worker depends on the actual documents and facts.

Ask The Young Firm Which Offshore Rights May Apply to You

If you were injured offshore and are unsure whether you are owed benefits, whether a lawsuit is possible, or what a document in front of you actually does, that uncertainty is the reason to ask, not a reason to wait until you have it figured out.

You can ask about representation without already knowing whether the Jones Act, the LHWCA, or another law applies to you. Working that out is part of the review, and the questions this page has raised are the ones to bring to it: whether your work makes you a seaman, an LHWCA worker, or something else; whether medical care or living-expense payments you should be receiving are being delayed or denied; which companies at your worksite may bear responsibility; and what any release, settlement, or benefit correspondence you have received means for your remaining rights.

Two things you should expect to have clarified before hiring any maritime lawyer, this firm included:

• How the consultation works and what it costs, if anything. Ask directly and get the answer in writing.
• How fees and case expenses are handled for each type of claim. Attorney fees in LHWCA benefit claims are governed by that statute's own rules, which differ from a general contingency-fee arrangement for a negligence lawsuit. If your situation may involve both, ask how each would be handled and whether a recovery on one affects the other.

Contacting The Young Firm does not by itself make the firm your lawyer, and it does not mean you qualify for any particular remedy or that any recovery will follow. It begins a review of your facts against the frameworks described on this page. If you want the broader picture of how the firm approaches these cases before reaching out, start with offshore injury claims. Then bring what you have, describe what happened in your own words, and let the coverage question be worked out with someone who does this every day.