Maritime Personal Injury & Wrongful Death

Picture Admiralty and maritime lawyers in Fort Lauderdale

Stroup & Martin, P.A. is an experienced and reliable maritime law firm in Fort Lauderdale. The firm’s admiralty and maritime attorneys have extensive knowledge of maritime laws including:

  • Longshore and Harbor Worker’s Compensation Act — primarily covers dock workers who unload ships
  • Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act — covers fixed oil rigs attached to the ocean floor
  • Merchant Marine Act of 1920 — Jones Act — covers most maritime injuries and is a federal law that clears up issues of legal jurisdiction at sea, on both vessels and floating oil rigs

Get answers to your maritime law questions

Stroup & Martin, P.A. provides the information and guidance you need when you have been hurt at sea and can advise you on:

  • How the Jones Act protects your rights
  • What to do after a maritime injury

Jones Act maritime lawyers

When you are a mariner injured on the job, you need the advice of a lawyer with experience in admiralty and maritime law. The attorneys at Stroup & Martin, P.A. help you understand if your employment gives you mariner status and qualifies you for the legal protections of the Jones Act. They have the knowledge and experience to help you navigate through the complexity of maritime law.

The Merchant Marine Act of 1920, known as the Jones Act, provides comprehensive relief for injured maritime workers. For you to be eligible for protection under the Jones Act, your mariner status must first be established by demonstrating that you:

  • Contributed directly to the function or mission of the vessel
  • Spent more than 30 percent of your work time associated with the vessel

Next, make sure that your accident injury fits the conditions required by the Jones Act:

  • You sustained an injury while working on permanent assignment to a vessel in a navigable waterway
  • The injury was caused by negligence of another crew member or by an unseaworthy condition

The compensation available in a Jones Act claim is well worth the effort required to establish fault on the part of the crew or the ship’s owner.

Establishing fault in a Florida Jones Act claim

In maritime accident cases involving a specific negligent act by a single crew member, establishing fault can be straightforward:

  • Another crew member bumped you with a pole and you fell down a ladder
  • The deckhand responsible for preparing your harness failed to secure it
  • A mariner making a repair failed to warn you of an unsafe area

However, if your injuries were caused by a generally unsafe condition on the vessel, Stroup & Martin, P.A. will pursue the issue of unseaworthiness. Most claims of unseaworthiness are based on the owner’s inadequate inspection or improper maintenance of areas on the vessel, such as:

  • Poor design leading to instability
  • Worn anti-slip surfaces
  • Cluttered decks
  • Lack of proper lifting equipment
  • Inadequate safety equipment
  • Unsafe food preparation

Contact Stroup & Martin, P.A. and learn about your rights under the Jones Act.

Nearly all maritime on-the-job injuries are covered by the special protections of the Jones Act. If you work on the water and you have been injured, contact Stroup & Martin, P.A. online or call their Fort Lauderdale office at 954-462-8808.