Louisiana Jones Act Lawyer | Houma
Skip to main content
Louisiana Jones Act Lawyer | Houma
Experienced Louisiana Jones Act Attorney
Home » Jones Act
Injured? Joe Knows.
No Fee Unless We Win
Hurt on a vessel? Don’t sign anything, don’t let them cut off your maintenance and cure. Call us first. We know the Jones Act, we know unseaworthiness, and you owe us nothing unless we win your case.
- Trusted since 1977 — 45+ years fighting for South Louisiana families
- A real person answers 24/7 — no voicemail, no robots, no out-of-state call center
- No junior associates on your case. Joe works with every client directly
- No fee unless we win. Free consultation. Multi-million-dollar recoveries.
45+Years Serving South Louisiana
1989Firm Founded in Houma
MillionsRecovered for LA Families
24/7Live Answering — No Robots
You’re a seaman — a deckhand, tankerman, engineer, cook, or roustabout — and you got hurt on a vessel in navigation. The company’s claims specialist is already calling. You need a Louisiana Jones Act lawyer who has fought seaman cases in Terrebonne Parish and federal court for more than four decades.
You’re a Jones Act Seaman. You Have Rights Your Employer Won’t Volunteer.
The Jones Act is a federal law (46 U.S.C. § 30104) written to protect seamen — the men and women whose work happens on vessels in navigation. It gives you the right to sue your employer for negligence, to recover lost wages, pain and suffering, medical expenses, and disability, and to receive maintenance and cure from the moment you’re hurt until you reach maximum medical improvement. It’s a stronger set of rights than land-based workers’ comp. But your employer will not walk you through them.
I’m Joe Kopfler. I founded Kopfler & Hermann in Houma in 1989. For more than four decades I’ve represented seamen injured on offshore rigs, supply boats, crew boats, tugs, barges, jack-up rigs, and inland vessels working the Gulf and Louisiana’s inland waters. This is not a satellite office. This is our home. When you call, you get me or a lawyer I’ve trained personally — not an intake center in another state.
Injured? Call Now — 985-851-3311 — a real person answers 24/7. No voicemail. No robot.
Get A Free Consult
Areas We Serve
Kopfler & Hermann represents injured Jones Act seamen throughout South Louisiana, including:
If you were hurt on a vessel — anywhere in the Gulf, along Louisiana’s inland waters, or on a rig or platform in navigation — we can help.
Are You a Jones Act Seaman? The Legal Test in Plain English.
Not every offshore worker is a Jones Act seaman. Courts look at two things: (1) your work must contribute to the mission of a vessel, and (2) you must have a substantial connection — both in nature and duration — to that vessel or an identifiable fleet of vessels in navigation. The traditional benchmark: you spend 30% or more of your work time aboard a vessel in navigation.
- Usually seamen: deckhands, mates, engineers, cooks, tankermen, roustabouts on movable rigs and jack-ups, drilling crew on MODUs, crane operators assigned to vessels, and pilots.
- Usually NOT seamen: workers on fixed platforms permanently attached to the seabed, dock workers, longshoremen, warehouse workers, and land-based mechanics (these workers usually fall under LHWCA or OCSLA instead).
- Close-call cases: workers assigned to a fleet of movable rigs, workers who split time between vessels and platforms, project-based hires, and specialized service personnel. These fights get won or lost on documentation and testimony.
If you’re not sure whether you qualify, don’t guess and don’t take your employer’s word for it. Call 985-851-3311 and we’ll walk through your job history at no cost to you.
You don’t pay unless we win. Call 985-851-3311 now for a free case review.
Types of Jones Act Cases We Handle
What Can You Recover Under the Jones Act?
- Past and future lost wages — including overtime and the value of benefits you lost.
- Lost earning capacity — if you can no longer do the offshore work you were trained for.
- Past and future medical expenses — including specialists, surgery, rehab, and long-term care.
- Pain and suffering — physical and mental, past and future.
- Disability and disfigurement — including scarring, amputation, and loss of function.
- Maintenance and cure — a daily living allowance and full medical treatment until maximum medical improvement, owed by your employer regardless of fault.
- Punitive damages — if your employer willfully or arbitrarily denied you maintenance and cure (Atlantic Sounding v. Townsend).
This is a fundamentally different recovery than land-based workers’ comp. Workers’ comp caps your benefits. The Jones Act does not. That’s why the fight matters.
Maintenance and Cure: What Every Injured Seaman Should Know
The moment you’re injured in the service of the vessel, your employer owes you two things — automatically, no fault required:
- Maintenance — a daily living allowance covering your food, rent, and utilities while you’re off the vessel and unable to work. The rates employers pay are almost always too low. We fight to correct them.
- Cure — full medical treatment until you reach maximum medical improvement (MMI). Not just the company doctor. You have the right to your own physician.
Employers routinely cut maintenance early, refuse to pay for the doctor you actually need, or classify you as “at MMI” before you actually are. Under Atlantic Sounding v. Townsend, an arbitrary or willful denial of maintenance and cure can expose the employer to punitive damages and attorney’s fees. That’s the leverage we use to make them pay it correctly.
You don’t pay unless we win. Call 985-851-3311 now for a free case review.
Unseaworthiness: The Second Claim Most Seamen Miss
Every Jones Act seaman also has a separate claim under general maritime law if the vessel or its crew was “unseaworthy” — meaning not reasonably fit for its intended purpose. Unseaworthiness is a strict liability standard: you don’t have to prove the employer was negligent. You only have to prove the vessel or its gear was defective, undermanned, or unsafe.
- Defective winches, cranes, chains, wires, and rigging.
- Undermanned or inadequately trained crew.
- Broken ladders, missing handrails, ungrated walkways.
- Slippery decks without non-skid coating.
- Improper or missing personal protective equipment.
- Failure to maintain equipment in accordance with manufacturer or Coast Guard standards.
Combining an unseaworthiness claim with a Jones Act claim — and asserting maintenance and cure alongside both — is how you build the case for a real recovery. Most general-practice firms miss the second and third claims.
Why Choose Kopfler & Hermann
- Handling Jones Act cases since 1977 from our Houma office — not a satellite branch of a bigger firm.
- Joe Kopfler has represented Terrebonne Parish seamen for more than four decades and continues to work directly with every client.
- A real person answers your call 24/7. When you’re hurt on a vessel and cell service comes back, you reach us — not a voicemail.
- No fee unless we win. You pay nothing up front and nothing at all unless we recover for you.
- Local trial experience in the 32nd JDC and federal court. We know the judges, the defense firms, and how Jones Act cases move in this parish and this circuit.
- We move fast to lock down evidence. Vessel logs, JSAs, safety meeting minutes, incident reports, and dashcam/CCTV can “disappear.” We send preservation letters the same day you hire us.
- Multi-million-dollar maritime recoveries across South Louisiana (see verdicts below).
Common Jones Act Injuries We See
- Traumatic brain injury (TBI) from falls, struck-by, and man-overboard incidents
- Spinal cord injury and paralysis
- Herniated discs and lumbar injuries from lifting, line-handling, and slips
- Torn rotator cuffs and shoulder injuries
- Knee and ankle injuries from wet decks and unsafe walkways
- Crush injuries from cargo, hatches, and equipment
- Amputation and loss of limb from cranes, winches, and pinch points
- Severe burns (fuel, chemical, electrical, steam)
- Multiple fractures from falls and struck-by
- Chemical exposure and inhalation injuries
- Decompression sickness and diving injuries
- Hearing loss from prolonged noise exposure
- Repetitive-motion injuries from deck and engine work
- Post-traumatic stress from man-overboard, explosions, and fatalities
- Wrongful death
Call 985-851-3311 right now. A real person answers 24/7. Free consultation. No fee unless we win.
What Should You Do After a Jones Act Injury?
- Report the injury in writing. Get it on the accident/incident report. Get a copy before you leave the boat or rig if you possibly can.
- Get medical attention. If the company sends you to their doctor, go — but you also have the right to your own doctor for maintenance and cure. Use it.
- Do not sign anything the company hands you until a lawyer has read it. Not a statement, not a release, not a medical authorization, not a “light duty” agreement.
- Do not give a recorded statement to the company’s claims specialist or insurance carrier before talking to a lawyer.
- Preserve evidence. Photograph the scene. Get names and phone numbers of every witness on the vessel. Save your work clothes if they show what happened.
- Call 985-851-3311. 24/7 live answer. We start protecting your rights the same day.
- Follow through on medical treatment. Gaps in treatment are the first thing they use to argue you weren’t really hurt.
How a Louisiana Jones Act Lawyer Can Help
From the day you hire us, we go to work:
- Send letters of representation to the employer, vessel owner, and insurance carriers — every “quick statement” call stops.
- Send preservation-of-evidence letters demanding vessel logs, JSAs, safety meeting minutes, incident reports, and dashcam/CCTV footage.
- Get you to the right medical providers — specialists who know maritime injuries, not the company clinic.
- Enforce your maintenance and cure rights — and back-charge any shortfalls, with punitive-damages exposure if the employer acted arbitrarily.
- Investigate seaman status thoroughly — time cards, crew assignments, vessel logs — so the employer can’t later argue you weren’t a seaman.
- Investigate whether the vessel was unseaworthy, whether the employer was negligent, and whether a third party is liable.
- Handle every conversation with the company, the insurer, and defense counsel.
- File suit in the right court — Louisiana state court or federal court — and take the case to trial if the offer isn’t right.
How Long Do You Have to File a Jones Act Claim?
Under 46 U.S.C. § 30106, you have three years from the date of injury to file a Jones Act lawsuit. The same three-year period generally applies to unseaworthiness claims and to wrongful-death claims under the Death on the High Seas Act.
Three years sounds like plenty of time. It isn’t. Vessel logs get overwritten. Witnesses transfer to other rigs. Crews rotate. Physical evidence gets repaired, painted over, or scrapped. Every day you wait is a day your employer’s defense team is building their file against you. Call 985-851-3311 and let us tell you exactly where you stand.
How Much Does a Jones Act Lawyer Cost?
Nothing up front. We work on contingency — you pay only if we win. No consultation fee. No expenses out of pocket. If we don’t recover, you don’t owe us anything. That’s not a marketing line. It’s the deal.
Injured? Call Now — 985-851-3311 — a real person answers 24/7. No voicemail. No robot.
Get A Free Consult
Jones Act & Maritime Case Results
Every case is different. Past results do not guarantee future outcomes. See full disclaimer below.
- $3,200,000 — Offshore Rig Injury. Multi-million-dollar recovery in a Jones Act claim involving a serious offshore injury.
- $2,000,000 — Oil & Gas Facility Burn Injury. Older worker suffered burns over a large part of his body when a corroded high-pressure line burst; recovered over $2 million after establishing negligent installation and maintenance.
- $1,900,000 — Supply Boat Deck Injury. Jones Act settlement for a deckhand injured due to unseaworthy conditions.
- $975,000 — Crane Accident on Fixed Platform. OCSLA and general maritime claim resolved before trial.
- $650,000 — Tug & Barge Injury. Jones Act settlement for a mariner hurt during a line-handling operation.
- $425,000 — Crew Boat Slip & Fall. Jones Act recovery for a crew member on an inland vessel.
Frequently Asked Questions
Am I a Jones Act seaman if I work on a jack-up rig?
Usually yes — a jack-up rig is considered a vessel in navigation when it’s capable of being moved and is engaged in drilling operations, even when its legs are down. Roustabouts, drillers, tool pushers, and other crew assigned to a jack-up rig typically qualify as seamen. By contrast, a worker on a fixed platform permanently attached to the seabed usually is not a seaman — that worker may fall under OCSLA or LHWCA instead. If you’re not sure, call us.
How much is my Jones Act case worth?
There’s no set formula. The value depends on the severity of your injuries, your past and future medical expenses, your lost wages and future earning capacity, the strength of the negligence and unseaworthiness evidence, and how your employer handled maintenance and cure. Jones Act recoveries can be multi-million-dollar cases — particularly for serious back, spinal cord, brain, or amputation injuries. Call 985-851-3311 for a free case review.
What if my employer says I can only see the company doctor?
Under the Jones Act and general maritime law, you have the right to your own choice of physician for maintenance and cure treatment. The company can send you to their doctor, but they can’t stop you from getting a second opinion or seeing your own doctor. Insist on that right.
What if the company cut off my maintenance and cure?
That’s a fight we take on all the time. If your employer stopped paying maintenance before you reached maximum medical improvement, they may be exposed to punitive damages and attorney’s fees under Atlantic Sounding v. Townsend. We’ll demand back-payments and, if they refuse, add a bad-faith claim to your lawsuit.
Should I sue in state court or federal court?
Jones Act cases can be filed in Louisiana state court or in federal court, and there are strategic reasons to pick one over the other — jury pool, procedural rules, judges, and how the case moves. We’ll pick the court that gives your case the best shot at a real recovery.
What if I already gave a recorded statement or signed something?
Don’t panic. Bring us whatever you signed and whatever you said. Some documents are enforceable, some aren’t, and the sooner we see it, the sooner we can protect you. Never assume you’ve given up your rights until a maritime lawyer reads the paper.
What’s the difference between the Jones Act and LHWCA?
The Jones Act covers seamen — crew members on vessels in navigation. LHWCA (Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act) covers longshoremen, harbor workers, and some platform workers on docks, piers, terminals, and adjoining areas. Jones Act gives you a full tort recovery including pain and suffering; LHWCA is a workers’-comp-style benefit with no pain and suffering. Getting the framework right at the outset is critical.
LET JOE FIGHT FOR YOU
If you or a loved one has been hurt, don’t wait. Call Kopfler & Hermann today for a free consultation. A real person answers 24/7 — not a voicemail, not a robot. Joe Kopfler has practiced law in Louisiana since 1977 and has spent more than four decades fighting insurance companies and getting real money for South Louisiana families. You pay nothing unless we win. Your case matters — let’s get it done.
Get A Free Consult Free Case Review
Office Location
Kopfler & Hermann, Attorneys at Law
306 Grinage Street, Suite 400
Houma, LA 70360
Phone: (985) 851-3311 | 985-851-3311
24/7 Live Answering | Serving Terrebonne, Lafourche & St. Mary Parish
The verdicts and settlements referenced are representative of cases handled by Kopfler & Hermann and are not a guarantee or prediction of the outcome of any other claim. Every case is different and past results do not guarantee future outcomes. No fee unless we recover on your behalf; client may be responsible for case costs and expenses. Joseph G. Kopfler is licensed to practice law in Louisiana.
