Jones Act Lawsuit Funding – Seaman Claims
The Jones Act is a federal law created in 1920 that applies to seamen and off-shore workers that are injured in the course of doing their jobs. In order to be covered under the Jones Act, the seaman must be assigned to specific vessel or fleet of vessels, and their work must contribute to the operation or function of the vessel. You should consult your attorney to determine if your situation is covered by the Jones Act or some other law.
The types of vessels where these injuries to seamen and off-shore workers’ may have occurred include (but are not limited to) the following.
- tugboats
- gambling boats
- cargo ships
- cruise ships
- drillships
- tankers
- fishing vessels
- dredges
- floating cranes
- barges
- offshore oil platforms
The locations where the accidents may have occurred include the following.
- open ocean
- harbors
- rivers
- intra-coastal waterways
In order to collect on a claim under the Jones Act, the injured seaman must show negligence on the part of an owner, operator, officer, or other seamen contributed to the accident causing the injury. The seamen can also attribute negligence to defects in the vessel or its equipment contributed to the accident causing the injury.
The types of injuries that qualify for Jones Act lawsuit funding include (but are not limited to) the following
- herniated spinal disks
- bone fractures
- shoulder injuries (e.g. rotator cuff and torn muscles)
- knee injuries (e.g. torn meniscus, torn ligaments)
- burn injuries
- eye injuries
- head injuries
- an injury requiring surgery
- loss of body part (e.g. amputations)
- injuries resulting in death
- soft tissue injuries (the advances on soft tissue injuries are usually smaller if these are the most serious injuries in the case because the overall case value is lower)
The documents we need to see for Jones Act lawsuit funding include the following
- attorney/client retainer agreement (optional)
- incident report
- complaint document (if a lawsuit has been filed)
- medical records (e.g. emergency room reports, X-ray reports, MRI reports, CAT scan reports, surgical reports, doctors narrative reports describing the status of injuries)
- proof of defendant’s insurance
Several basic questions about lawsuit finding are answered on the page FAQ’s About Lawsuit Funding.
If you have additional questions, or if you would like to learn if your lawsuit qualifies for lawsuit funding, please click here to contact us