If you were injured working as a deckhand, tankerman, captain, cook, or rigger aboard a vessel in the Gulf of Mexico or Louisiana inland waters, federal maritime law — not workers’ comp — controls your claim. The Jones Act gives qualifying seamen the right to sue their employer for negligence and recover full damages.
At Kopfler & Hermann, our Houma Jones Act lawyers have been representing injured Louisiana clients and their families for over 45 years from our office at 306 Grinage Street in downtown Houma. We know how the trucking companies, insurance carriers, oilfield operators, and chemical plants build their defenses — and we know how to dismantle them.
Call (985) 851-3311 for a free consultation with an experienced Houma Jones Act lawyer today, or use our online contact form.
To be covered under the Jones Act, you must spend at least 30% of your work time aboard a vessel in navigation — meaning a working vessel, not one in drydock or under construction. Crewboats, supply boats, tugs, jack-up rigs, semi-submersibles, drillships, lift boats, and inland push boats all qualify as vessels.
Common job titles covered: deckhand, tankerman, mate, master, engineer, oiler, cook, steward, roustabout, roughneck assigned to a floating rig, derrickhand, motorman, and crane operator on a vessel. If you split time between platforms and boats, our Houma Jones Act lawyers can analyze whether you have seaman status or fall under the Longshore Act instead.
The Jones Act standard for employer negligence is dramatically lower than ordinary negligence. The Supreme Court’s featherweight causation standard means the employer is liable if its negligence played any part — however slight — in producing the injury.
Common forms of Jones Act negligence we see in Houma cases: failure to provide a safe place to work, inadequate training, understaffed crews working dangerous hours, defective equipment, slippery decks, unsafe lifting practices, captain’s negligent orders, and failure to follow company safety policy.
Unlike state workers’ compensation, the Jones Act allows you to recover full damages — not just medical bills and a fraction of your wages. Our Houma Jones Act attorneys pursue:
Past and future medical expenses; past and future lost wages and lost earning capacity; pain and suffering; mental anguish; disfigurement; loss of enjoyment of life; and maintenance and cure for the period of recovery.
Even if your injury wasn’t your employer’s fault, every seaman has the right to maintenance and cure — a daily living allowance and full medical care — until you reach maximum medical improvement. Employers routinely cut these payments off too early. Our Houma Jones Act lawyers force employers to keep paying or face penalties for arbitrary refusal.
Our Houma Jones Act lawyers see the same patterns in case after case:
Our Houma office serves injured clients throughout south Louisiana:
The Jones Act has a three-year statute of limitations from the date of injury. Don’t wait — evidence disappears quickly, especially on offshore vessels that rotate crews.
No. Federal law protects you from retaliation. If your employer fires, demotes, or harasses you for asserting maritime rights, you have an additional retaliation claim.
No. Kopfler & Hermann handles Jones Act cases on a contingency fee basis. You pay nothing unless we recover compensation for you.
Fixed offshore platforms generally aren’t vessels, so injuries there usually fall under the Longshore Act or OCSLA — not the Jones Act. Our Houma maritime lawyers evaluate which law applies to your specific situation.
Maybe. Courts look at the actual working relationship, not just the label. Many workers labeled as contractors are legally seamen under the Jones Act. Let us investigate.
The longer you wait, the more evidence disappears and the harder the insurance carriers fight. Call our Houma office at (985) 851-3311 for a free consultation with an experienced Houma Jones Act lawyer, or visit us at 306 Grinage Street in downtown Houma.
