Gulfport Offshore Accident Lawyer

The Mississippi Gulf Coast is home to numerous oil rigs, refineries, and other facilities serving the nationwide oil and gas industry—and unfortunately, few other workplaces have a greater potential for accidents that leave workers seriously injured afterwards. Furthermore, if you get hurt while working offshore, the process to obtain compensation for your injury-related losses may be different from those which would apply to a worker on land.

Fortunately, help is available from a knowledgeable Gulfport offshore accident lawyer with Braddock Law Firm, PLLC, who has years of experience helping people like you through similar situations. No matter how you were hurt or what kind of accident caused your injuries, working with a seasoned workers’ compensation attorney could be vital to effectively enforcing your legal right to financial recovery.

Recovering for an Offshore Accident Under the Jones Act

Rather than traditional state-level workers’ compensation systems, employees who work primarily on maritime vessels in navigable waterways are covered in the event of an on-the-job accident by the federal Jones Act. The Jones Act functions like federal Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act, the latter of which protects workers in maritime industries who perform their job duties primarily in harbors, docks, or shipyards.

Unlike workers’ comp insurance, which holds employers strictly liable for all job-related injuries and illnesses that do not stem from horseplay or some other form of overt negligence by an injured or sick worker, the Jones Act requires injured maritime workers to prove that their employers were negligent in some way. Importantly, this standard is not as strict as the “negligence” standards applicable to most personal injury claims. Rather than having to prove their employer directly caused their injuries through negligence, an injured offshore worker may only need to prove their employer’s negligence contributed to causing their injury.

Furthermore, because maritime employers are not automatically liable for accidents under the Jones Act, they can be held responsible for a far wider variety of economic and non-economic losses once they are found liable for a worker’s injury. Mr. Braddock, a Gulfport offshore accident attorney, can explain how this unique system works in greater detail during a private consultation.

What Damages May Be Compensable?

A comprehensive Jones Act claim following an offshore accident near Gulfport could allow recovery for all past and future effects that incident will have on the injured worker pursuing that claim. Common damages factored into cases of this nature include:

• All past and future medical expenses, including future rehabilitative care costs
• Lost wages and/or future earning capacity
• Costs of job retraining
• Physical pain and suffering
• Lost consortium and/or quality of life
• Home modifications, in-home assistance, and other out-of-pocket costs necessitated by a permanent disability

Crucially, the Jones Act allows prospective claimants a maximum of three years after their initial accident to pursue compensation for ensuing injuries, as an offshore accident lawyer in Gulfport could affirm.

Get in Touch with a Gulfport Offshore Accident Attorney Today

Industrial accidents that happen offshore can be uniquely dangerous for everyone involved, especially when they occur due to misconduct by an injured worker’s employer. In a scenario like this, understanding and making full use of your legal rights could be essential to preserving your prospects and financial security.

A knowledgeable Gulfport offshore accident lawyer from Braddock Law Firm, PLLC will be an irreplaceable ally from start to finish of your pursuit of compensation. Call today to learn more.