Have you been injured in a maritime accident in Houston, Texas? Omar Khawaja Personal Injury Lawyers can help when you call (281) 888-2339. We offer a free consultation with a Houston maritime accident lawyer, giving you a chance to understand your rights and options after an offshore or maritime injury.
As you focus on recovering from your injuries, an experienced legal team can take on the fight for compensation and guide you through each step of the process. When you’re ready to begin, simply contact our office to arrange your complimentary case review and learn more about what comes next.
Why Choose Omar Khawaja Personal Injury Lawyers After a Maritime Accident in Houston, TX
Maritime accident cases tend to be more complicated than other personal injury disputes. You’ll need an experienced and knowledgeable legal advocate in your corner. It’s why victims of maritime accidents in or near Houston, TX, turn to Omar Khawaja Personal Injury Lawyers.
Here’s why clients trust us when they need help most:
- Backed by over a century of combined legal experience, we’re top-rated Texas trial attorneys who’ve won more than $100 million in monetary awards for injury victims and families across the state.
- We have earned recognition from respected organizations such as Super Lawyers, National Trial Lawyers Top 100, the Million Dollar Advocates Forum, and Super Lawyers Rising Stars, highlighting our firm’s proven record.
- We appreciate that our clients are often at a disadvantage when they’re up against powerful corporations, and we make it our mission to level the playing field and secure the kind of financial justice they deserve.
- We bring a level of insight, knowledge, and dedication to our clients’ cases that’s unmatched in the field of personal injury plaintiffs’ litigation. We don’t accept less than the very best case results for our clients.
- If you’re not offered the best possible terms in a benefits package or settlement agreement after your maritime accident, we’ll escalate your case and fight tirelessly for your future at trial.
Now’s the time to take action, so don’t hesitate to call our Houston personal injury attorneys for assistance today.
What Is a Maritime Accident?
Maritime industries are related to the sea. They can involve shipping, drilling, fishing, offshore energy generation, tourism, and many other things that involve utilizing oceans, seas, rivers, and other bodies of navigable water.
Maritime accidents refer to any accidents related to these maritime activities, and can include:
- Oil drilling accidents
- Gas and oil explosions
- Shipbuilding accidents
- Commercial fishing accidents
- Cruise ship accidents
- Tugboat accidents
- Cargo boat accidents
- Shipyard accidents
- Marine engineering accidents
Texas is a key player in both national and international maritime activities. The state’s maritime industry employs 153,000 people directly and generates millions of other jobs across the state, contributing tens of billions of dollars in personal income and tax revenue each year. As the state’s largest and most popular port, Houston is home to many of the state’s maritime workers.
As a maritime worker in Houston, you have many protections under state and federal law. This can include the ability to seek compensation for work-related injuries you suffer in maritime accidents on or off the coast of Texas.
What Is My Maritime Injury Claim Worth?
The value of your case will depend on several factors that are unique to your situation. These factors include:
- What type of maritime accident did you get hurt in?
- What types of physical injuries have you suffered?
- Can you work while you recover from your maritime accident injuries?
- Will you suffer a permanent physical impairment or disability?
- What is your job?
- What federal maritime laws can be invoked in your situation?
- How has the maritime accident affected your quality of life?
- Do you share any responsibility for the maritime accident in which you were injured?
- How old are you?
Some of these things, like Texas’s modified comparative negligence rule, may or may not affect your claim’s value. That’s because different sources of compensation might be available to you, depending on how you got hurt and what your job entails.
The best way to understand the potential value of your maritime accident claim is by hiring an experienced Texas maritime accident lawyer in Houston.
What Rights Do I Have as an Injured Maritime Worker in Houston?
Maritime jobs come with a lot of risks, so state and federal law offer protections in the event that something goes wrong. However, not all maritime workers are protected by all maritime laws.
Here’s a quick breakdown of some of the maritime laws that are most often utilized by injured maritime workers in Houston.
The Jones Act
The Jones Act allows injured seamen to recover maintenance and cure benefits and/or the right to sue their employer if they’re injured in a maritime accident.
You’ll be considered a seaman for Jones Act purposes if you:
- Are engaged by or employed aboard a vessel in navigation
- Contribute to that vessel’s function or further its mission, and
- Spend at least 30 percent of your time on board the vessel.
Most often, this includes deckhands, cooks, repairmen, commercial fishermen, engineers, and captains. In some situations, offshore oil rig workers can qualify for protection under the Jones Act if assigned to a navigable vessel rather than a rig.
Maintenance and cure provide compensation for medical care and daily life expenses until the worker can return to duty. Workers who are injured because of their employer’s negligence or due to an unseaworthy vessel reserve the right to sue for compensatory damages in court.
Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act
The Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act (LHWCA) provides benefits to workers in the maritime industry who aren’t generally protected under the Jones Act. Like other workers’ compensation programs, the LHWCA provides benefits for medical expenses, temporary lost wages, permanent disability, disfigurement, vocational rehabilitation, and death.
Traditionally, oil rig workers were not covered by the LHWCA. However, many are now permitted to receive LHWCA benefits thanks to the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act.
Texas Personal Injury Law
As a Texan, you’re protected by state law, too. This is particularly helpful when you spend most of your time working on a dock or shipyard in the Port of Houston. When you suffer a maritime accident because of another person’s negligent or wrongful actions, you can potentially file a civil lawsuit under Texas law to hold them accountable for your losses.
How Much Does It Cost To Hire a Maritime Accident Attorney in Houston?
When you hire Omar Khawaja Personal Injury Lawyers, you’ll pay nothing out of pocket and no attorney fees until we win your maritime accident case. Contingency fee representation means that you don’t pay unless we win.
When we obtain a settlement or win a verdict for you in court, our attorneys are paid a percentage of that financial award.
What Happens if I’m Blamed for My Maritime Injuries?
Sharing blame for a maritime accident may or may not impact your ability to get compensation; it depends on the type of claim you file.
If you file a personal injury claim under the Jones Act or Texas personal injury law, comparative fault will limit (or potentially bar) your financial recovery. Through a Jones Act lawsuit, damages are reduced proportionately to fault.
Under Texas’s modified comparative fault law, damages are reduced proportionately to fault up to 50 percent. If you are more than 50% at fault, you won’t be able to recover compensation at all, making it critical to have someone fighting for you on your side.
Shared fault will not generally be a factor if you file for workers’ compensation benefits under the LHWCA.
When Do I Have To File My Maritime Accident Case in Texas?
Again, it will depend on how you’re pursuing compensation for your maritime injuries. Different laws have different time limits and procedural requirements. Here are some rules:
- The Jones Act requires claims to be filed within three years of the date of a worker’s injury
- Claims for LHWCA benefits must be submitted within one year of the date of injury (you’ll also be required to provide notice of your injury within 30 days)
- Texas law generally requires personal injury claims to comply with a two-year statute of limitations
So, depending on your situation, you’ll likely have between one and three years to formally request compensation for your medical care, lost wages, disability, and other damages after a maritime accident in Texas.
Schedule a Free Consultation With an Experienced Houston Maritime Accident Lawyer
Call Omar Khawaja Personal Injury Lawyers for help if you’ve suffered an injury in a maritime accident in Houston, Texas. You shouldn’t have to deal with the costs and consequences of your injuries on your own – not when you put your life on the line every day.
We’ve helped clients across the Lone Star State win over $100 million in financial awards. Now, we’re here to offer the insight, support, and aggressive legal representation you’ll need to make the most of your maritime accident case, too.
Our Houston maritime accident lawyers are ready to help you explore your legal rights and fight for the compensation you need to get back on your feet. Contact our office today to begin. Your initial case review is free.