They say, the further from home, the higher risk of being involved in a serious incident. People do not have the power to predict mishaps, which always occur at the worst possible time. Being injured is already bad, but being injured offshore is even worse. Far from your home, family, and friends, all the things you have to go through seem to be much more complicated and dramatic. Main responsibility of a maritime injury lawyer is to ensure justice and fair compensation for people who’ve been injured in maritime.
However, it is very important to know your rights – one of them is the right to get the compensation you deserve and that’s what maritime lawyers exist and work for. Let’s take a closer look at the responsibilities of a maritime injury lawyer.
What Is Maritime Law?
Before turning to the competencies and duties of maritime lawyers, let’s first brush on what is maritime law. Known also as admiralty law, it serves to govern private maritime business and other nautical matters that range from the shipping of goods to incidents in open waters. Maritime law spans both international and U.S. state and federal laws, which makes it a pretty massive and complex set of acts and regulations to govern a wide variety of contracts, injuries, as well as virtually any form of offense that might occur on, in, or near a body of navigable water.
Who Are Maritime Injury Lawyers?
No prizes for guessing, maritime lawyers are attorneys that practice maritime law. As already mentioned, this area covers a multitude of different legal matters, so a maritime injury lawyer is the one who specializes in injuries that occurred as a result of maritime accidents regardless of whether they happened during commercial or recreational activities. The extensive list of injuries can be found as well as more details on types of compensation and cost that can be recovered. Generally speaking, an office of a maritime injury lawyer is the right address to seek help and protection not only in the case of work injuries but also those that happened during your vacations on a cruise ship or a short voyage on the boat.
What Are the Responsibilities of a Maritime Lawyer?
The main duty of a maritime injury lawyer is to have an insight into the occurred accident and injuries it caused, explain to the client his/her rights in terms of seeking compensation, as well as the legal ways the latter can be achieved. An experienced maritime attorney is expected to be well-versed in all the respective state, federal, and international laws and their application. In addition to that, true professionals worth their salt know exactly how to take advantage of the Jones Act, a federal law created to regulate maritime commerce in the USA.
If a maritime lawyer believes you have a case, he or she will offer you to file a claim and make sure to collect all the necessary evidence and documents, so you can seek damages for injuries from crews, captains, or ship owners. If there is a need, your lawyer will fight for your interests in the court.
To sum up, the main responsibility of a maritime injury lawyer is to ensure justice and fair compensation for people who’ve been injured in various commercial and recreational maritime accidents.
