Sound Legal and Practical Guidance for Maritime Injury Victims
In an ideal world, anyone injured on the job would be confident that the decision to report a maritime injury would pose no risk — and that incident report would be met with genuine concern by maritime employers. In fact, supervisors and employers commonly discourage injury reporting and minimize the seriousness of on-the-job accidents.
If you are searching for guidance regarding an injury that occurred very recently, we at Doyle Raizner urge you to insist on filing a report. If you meet severe resistance, we will welcome your call or e-mail and offer guidance. More often, we counsel and represent workers whose serious, potentially disabling injuries are being denied or minimized by uncooperative maritime employers.
Recognition of On-the-Job Problems and Pressures That Can Impact You
The facts surrounding incident and injury reporting can become major issues in negotiations and litigation directed at recovering monetary compensation through a Jones Act claim or under other applicable laws. We are accomplished, leading-edge attorneys, but we stay in close touch with the practical concerns of workers in the oil-and-gas, shipping, and other maritime industries. We know that:
- Serious injuries — including spinal cord injuries such as herniated discs and certain types of brain injury — are not always immediately recognized by dedicated workers accustomed to hard work and discomfort
- Vessel captains, tool pushers and others with supervisory and accident reporting responsibility commonly refuse or "forget" to file reports
- The attraction of safety bonuses may result in pressure from oil drilling rig or vessel crew members not to report an offshore injury
We have recovered monetary compensation for clients in cases where no incident or injury report was filed or processed — including a sizable 2009 jury verdict in favor of a dredging vessel worker in which employer concealment of the incident report became a major issue. It is important to hire a skilled attorney, because this type of dispute can dramatically increase the difficulty and complexity of the case.
A History of Success in Maritime Injury Negotiations and Litigation
Please contact a Doyle Raizner lawyer now if you know or believe you have suffered a serious injury while at work in your maritime occupation. Our law firm has an excellent track record of obtaining monetary compensation for workers injured in many types of accidents on vessels at sea, in the oil fields off the Houston and Galveston, Texas coasts and around the world.
