The task of working on an offshore oil rig or floating platform comes with tacit risks. Workers need to deal with complicated, heavy pieces of equipment. They are called to work from great elevations and for long hours. Additionally, they must face the natural elements of the high seas, where conditions can be terrible. But maybe their worst threat is when an employer fails to provide safety measures.
Such neglect is the basis of a number of lawsuits filed by two living offshore workers and a deceased worker’s loved ones after a stringent ordeal in September in the Gulf of Mexico. That’s when the jack-up rig or liftboat on which the offshore employees were performing seismic studies started sinking in the Bay of Campeche off the coast of Mexico, mostly because of Tropical Storm Nate’s approach.
The workers needed to escape, yet their employers failed to do this for them. As a matter of fact, a “standby” ship nearby turned and steered to port before picking them up. That left the workers with only a small life raft — without any food or water, and not big enough for all to be aboard. Thus, the men took turns hanging off the side and in the water.
Search and rescue teams tried searching for them for three days until the Mexican naval forces ultimately found them. One of the men was lost at sea but his body later on was recovered. Two of the men passed away on the raft, and a fourth man passed away onshore in a hospital when taken there after the rescue.
Ensuing lawsuits seek pecuniary restitution from 3 firms: Trinity Liftboat Services of New Iberia, LA, proprietor and operator of the liftboat; Geokinetics, Inc. of Houston, TX, which had commissioned the men’s seismic studies; and Mermaid Marine Australia Ltd., proprietor of the standby vessel.
Such catastrophes are given uncommon protections under a federal maritime law passed in 1920, the Jones Act. Originally known as the Merchant Marine Act, the Jones Act allows seafarers, crewmen, maritime workers and now offshore employees who work on waters to sue employers for neglectfulness after a workplace injury accident as a result of their neglectfulness. Victims or their surviving families may seek economic recovery for medical expenses, funeral costs, lost present and future salary and pain and suffering.
The giant energy corporations and those with which they contract are legally answerable for the safety of their workers. When they allow safety standards to lapse and thus put workers at risk, such workers have a legal right, when injured, to sue them by utilizing the Jones Act.
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Injured offshore or maritime workers may be wondering: Where can I find a Jones Act lawyer? They can start by getting in touch with the veteran Gulf Coast lawyer Jim S. Adler & Associates. Either by checking out its Texas-JonesActLawyer.com web site or calling 1-800-566-3434, they will be able to discover more information pertaining to their chances for a winning Jones Act lawsuit.