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It depends on your job and on where you were hurt, and the answer changes your rights. A crew member of a vessel is a seaman under the Jones Act and can sue the employer for negligence before a jury. A worker on a fixed platform usually falls under a federal compensation scheme and state negligence law against companies other than the employer. Schiffer Law Firm in Houston represents injured offshore workers and their families along the Texas Gulf Coast.
The step that cannot wait is protecting your own account of what happened. Report the injury and ask for a copy of the incident report in writing. Photograph the equipment and the deck or platform condition. The vessel or the platform will be back in service within days, and that evidence rarely survives. Do not sign a statement describing your job status before you talk to a lawyer.
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A negligence suit against the employer, with a jury. Title 46, Section 30104 of the United States Code provides that a seaman injured in the course of employment “may elect to bring a civil action at law, with the right of trial by jury, against the employer.” It adds that the laws regulating recovery for injury to a railway employee apply to the action. That last clause imports the federal railroad standard of employer liability into a maritime case.
A seaman also has two claims under the general maritime law that do not depend on fault. The first is maintenance and cure, meaning daily living expenses and medical care until you reach maximum medical improvement. In Atlantic Sounding Co. v. Townsend, 557 U.S. 404 (2009), the Supreme Court of the United States held that punitive damages are available for a willful and wanton refusal to pay it. The second is unseaworthiness, a claim against the vessel owner for an unsafe vessel, crew or equipment. In Dutra Group v. Batterton, decided 24 June 2019, the Court held that punitive damages are not available on an unseaworthiness claim.
Our page on maritime injuries and the Jones Act covers the seaman’s case in more detail.
The Supreme Court of the United States set the test in Chandris, Inc. v. Latsis, 515 U.S. 347 (1995). Your duties must contribute to the function of the vessel or the accomplishment of its mission. You must also have a connection to a vessel in navigation, or to an identifiable fleet of vessels, that is substantial in both duration and nature. The Court offered a guideline: a worker who spends “less than about 30 percent” of working time in the service of a vessel in navigation should not ordinarily qualify.
Job titles do not decide this. Deckhands, engineers, cooks and tankermen on crew boats, supply vessels, jack-up rigs and drillships are often seamen. Platform workers, divers, catering hands and construction crews may or may not be. It depends on how much of their time is spent aboard a vessel and doing what. Your time sheets and crew lists answer the question, and your employer’s characterization does not.
Then the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act usually governs. Under 43 U.S.C. 1333(b), a worker injured in operations on the outer Continental Shelf to explore for, develop, remove or transport its natural resources receives compensation under the Longshore Act. Its full name is the Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act. Under 43 U.S.C. 1333(a)(2)(A), the civil law of the adjacent state applies on the shelf as federal law, to the extent it is not inconsistent with federal law. For a platform off Texas, that means Texas negligence law governs your claims against the companies other than your employer.
The Supreme Court of the United States extended the compensation coverage in Pacific Operators Offshore, LLP v. Valladolid, 565 U.S. 207 (2012). A worker injured elsewhere, including onshore, is covered if the injury has a substantial nexus to extractive operations on the shelf.
The Longshore Act works like workers’ compensation. Under 33 U.S.C. 905(a), the employer’s liability for compensation is exclusive, so you do not sue your employer for negligence. Under 33 U.S.C. 905(b), you may still sue a vessel for its negligence. Your claims against the platform operator and the other contractors on the platform proceed under the state law that OCSLA borrows.
Three years for a maritime claim, and possibly less for the others. Under 46 U.S.C. 30106, a civil action for personal injury or death arising out of a maritime tort “must be brought within 3 years after the cause of action arose.” That period governs a Jones Act suit and general maritime claims.
A negligence claim on a fixed platform that borrows Texas law under OCSLA carries the Texas two-year period in Section 16.003 of the Civil Practice and Remedies Code. Compensation claims under the Longshore Act have their own notice and filing deadlines, and they are shorter. Treat two years as the outside limit until a lawyer has identified which law applies to you.
Every statute and case linked above was read at its primary source. Texas statutes change every legislative session and case law is constantly changing.
This page is general information about Texas law. It is not legal advice about your situation, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship.
Then we build your case to fit either one until the facts settle the question. Seaman status is a fact question that turns on your work history, and companies sometimes describe a worker’s status in the way that costs them least. We gather your employment records, crew lists and time sheets before anyone commits to a theory, and we file within the shorter of the possible deadlines.
We begin with your status, because everything else follows from it. We obtain your crew lists, time sheets and employment records. We identify the vessel or platform owner and every contractor involved, and the first step is written notice to each of them to keep their records before the vessel returns to service. Then we file under the law that gives you the strongest claim, within the shortest deadline that could apply.
Schiffer Law Firm is a Houston personal injury firm with 50 plus years of combined experience representing injured people and families across Texas. We know how offshore employers argue seaman status and what records answer them.
There is no charge to talk, and no attorney’s fee unless there is a recovery.
Written by Jacob Schiffer, Attorney, Schiffer Law Firm. State Bar of Texas No. 24105175.
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It depends on the rig and your duties. Under Chandris, Inc. v. Latsis, you are a seaman if your work contributes to the function of a vessel in navigation. Your connection to that vessel or fleet must also be substantial in duration and nature. Crews on jack-up rigs and drillships often qualify; workers on fixed platforms usually do not.
The Jones Act, 46 U.S.C. 30104, lets a seaman sue the employer for negligence before a jury. The Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act pays compensation benefits without regard to fault. Under 33 U.S.C. 905(a), that compensation is the worker's exclusive remedy against the employer. A Longshore worker may still sue a negligent vessel under Section 905(b) and other companies under state law.
Sometimes. In Atlantic Sounding Co. v. Townsend, the Supreme Court of the United States allowed punitive damages for a willful and wanton failure to pay maintenance and cure. In Dutra Group v. Batterton, the Court held they are not available on an unseaworthiness claim.
Three years for a Jones Act or general maritime claim under 46 U.S.C. 30106. A platform claim that borrows Texas law under OCSLA has two years under Section 16.003 of the Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code. Longshore compensation deadlines are shorter still. Treat two years as the outside limit until your status is settled.
No. Seaman status is a question of fact decided by your actual work, and the company's paperwork does not settle it. Keep your time sheets, crew lists and pay records and bring them to your first meeting.