This page is about people who are injured working on or around vessels: crew, dock and terminal workers, shipyard and repair workers, and offshore crews. It is not about recreational boat crashes or cruise passengers, both of which run on different law and have their own pages. A Florida maritime injury lawyer starts with a status question, because the answer determines whether you have a workers compensation claim, a negligence claim, or both.
Whether You Count as a Seaman
Seaman status is not a job title, and nobody is a seaman merely because they work near water. The test is whether your duties contribute to the function of a vessel in navigation, and whether your connection to that vessel, or to an identifiable fleet, is substantial in both its duration and its nature. Someone who spends most of their working time aboard usually qualifies. Someone who visits vessels to perform a task and leaves usually does not.
The distinction matters more than any other fact in the case. A seaman is outside the ordinary workers compensation system and can sue their employer directly for negligence. A land-based maritime worker generally cannot, and takes a different route instead.
The Jones Act Claim Against Your Employer
A seaman injured in the service of a vessel may bring a negligence claim against their employer under the Jones Act. The causation standard is famously light: the employer’s negligence need only have played some part, however slight, in producing the injury. Unsafe practices, inadequate crewing, missing training, defective equipment and pressure to work through fatigue are all ordinary subjects of these claims.
Unseaworthiness Is a Separate Claim
Alongside the negligence claim sits an older one, against the owner of the vessel, that does not require proof of fault at all. The owner owes an absolute duty to provide a vessel that is reasonably fit for its intended purpose, including its gear, its equipment and its crew. A winch that fails, a deck without a guard, a line in poor condition or a crew too small to do the job safely can each make a vessel unseaworthy no matter how carefully the owner behaved.
Dock, Terminal and Shipyard Workers
Workers who load, unload, build or repair vessels are generally covered by the federal longshore and harbor workers compensation scheme rather than by the Jones Act. That scheme pays medical care and wage replacement without proof of fault, and in exchange the employer is protected from being sued directly.
It is not the end of the analysis. The same statute preserves a negligence action against the vessel itself where the vessel’s own conduct caused the injury, and claims against equipment manufacturers, terminal operators and other contractors on site are unaffected. Those third-party claims are where damages beyond wage replacement, including pain and suffering, actually come from.
Where These Cases Are Filed
Florida is one of the busiest maritime states in the country, with major activity at Port Tampa Bay, PortMiami, Port Everglades, Jacksonville and Port Canaveral, and a large marine repair and offshore support industry alongside it. Although these claims arise under federal law, a long-standing provision preserves the right to bring most of them in state court, and that choice can affect the pace of the case and who decides it.
The Three-Year Deadline
Maritime personal injury and death claims generally carry a three-year limitation period, which is longer than the two years Florida now allows for ordinary negligence. That is not a reason to wait. Vessels are repaired, sold and reflagged, crews disperse across the world, and the logs, work orders and safety meeting records that decide these cases are kept only as long as the operator chooses. Some employment contracts also attempt to shorten deadlines or move disputes to arbitration abroad, and those provisions need to be read early.
What to Do After a Maritime Injury
- Report the injury in writing and keep a copy for yourself
- Ask for the accident report and any statement you are asked to sign, and read it before signing
- Get the names and contact details of everyone aboard who saw it
- Photograph the equipment, the deck and the conditions before repairs are made
- Keep your employment contract, articles and any collective agreement
- Do not accept a “maintenance” payment as a settlement without advice about what else may be owed
How Alegra Law Handles Maritime Worker Claims
We establish status first, because it decides everything after it, then pursue the negligence, unseaworthiness and maintenance and cure claims that status opens up. We demand preservation of logs, work orders, safety meeting minutes and crewing records, examine the contract for arbitration and choice of law provisions, and identify third-party defendants where the employer is protected. Where a matter calls for it we associate co-counsel with specific experience in these claims, on written client consent and without increasing the client’s total fee. There is no fee unless we recover.
What a Florida Maritime Injury Lawyer Determines First
A Florida maritime injury lawyer begins with seaman status, because it separates a direct negligence claim against the employer from a no-fault compensation scheme that bars one. From there the analysis moves to the vessel owner’s duty to provide a seaworthy vessel, to maintenance and cure, and to any third party whose equipment or conduct contributed.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I know if I count as a seaman?
It turns on your duties and your connection to a vessel or fleet rather than on your job title. If your work contributes to the function of a vessel in navigation and your connection to it is substantial in both duration and nature, you are likely a seaman. Someone who boards vessels occasionally to perform a task generally is not, and would fall under the longshore scheme instead.
My employer is paying maintenance. Is that my compensation?
No. Maintenance and cure is a daily living allowance and medical care owed regardless of fault, and it is separate from any claim for negligence or unseaworthiness. Accepting it does not settle anything, and an employer that stops it unreasonably before you reach maximum medical improvement may owe more than the arrears.
My contract says disputes go to arbitration in another country. Is that enforceable?
Sometimes, and sometimes not. Arbitration and choice of law clauses in crew contracts are common and are frequently enforced, but they are not automatically valid, and how they interact with a Jones Act claim depends on the wording and the circumstances. It needs to be read before anything is filed.
I was hurt on a dock, not on a ship. Do I have a claim?
Very possibly. Longshore and harbor workers are usually covered by a federal no-fault compensation scheme that bars suing the employer, but the same statute preserves a negligence claim against the vessel, and claims against equipment manufacturers, terminal operators and other contractors are unaffected. Those are usually where full damages come from.
What does it cost to hire Alegra Law?
Nothing upfront. We work on contingency, and if there is no recovery you owe no attorney’s fee. All fee terms are provided in writing before you sign.