Louisiana Jones Act Attorneys

Our Louisiana Jones Act Results

We don’t just say we get results. We list them.

The Lake Washington case shows how these cases actually get won. 

Our client was working aboard an inland barge when a section of pipe that had been tack-welded to the derrick broke loose during drilling operations and struck him in the head. The defense fought it to the courthouse steps. Two days before trial, we settled for $14 million. The $16.9 million verdict tells the same story from the other end: the company offered $300,000, we tried the case, and a jury returned more than fifty times that.

“[Arnold & Itkin] have given me my life back. They have really given me my life back and my family’s life back…They fought tooth and nail for me and my family. Anytime we needed them, they were there.” 
— Josh, maritime accident survivor

What Is the Jones Act?

The Jones Act is a federal law, Section 27 of the Merchant Marine Act of 1920, codified at 46 U.S.C. § 30104, that lets a seaman sue their employer for negligence and have the case heard by a jury. Before 1920, an injured seaman was largely limited to maintenance and cure: basic living expenses and medical care, with no way to hold a negligent employer accountable for anything more. The Jones Act changed that, and it is why seamen have rights that land-based Louisiana workers gave up in exchange for workers’ compensation.

Three features define a Jones Act claim:

• You sue your employer directly. Seamen are excluded from state workers’ compensation systems entirely.
• The burden of proof is light. Courts call it a “featherweight” standard. If your employer’s negligence played any part in causing your injury, they are liable for their share.
• Damages are not capped. Lost wages, future earning capacity, medical care, and pain and suffering, decided by a jury.

Do I Qualify as a Seaman?

You qualify if your work contributes to the function or mission of a vessel in navigation and your connection to that vessel, or an identifiable fleet, is substantial in both duration and nature. That is the U.S. Supreme Court’s test from Chandris, Inc. v. Latsis, 515 U.S. 347 (1995), and as a rule of thumb, spending at least 30% of your working time in service of the vessel satisfies the duration requirement.

In Louisiana that covers a wide range of work: deckhands and tankermen on Mississippi River tows, crew aboard inland and offshore barges, drillers and roustabouts on drillships and jack-up rigs, crew boat and supply vessel personnel out of Port Fourchon, galley and housekeeping crew, captains, and commercial fishermen and shrimpers. Workers on fixed platforms usually fall outside the Jones Act and into the LHWCA or state law through OCSLA.

Seaman status is the most contested question in maritime litigation, and it matters that Louisiana sits in the Fifth Circuit, where the courts have been reading the test in workers’ favor. In Santee v. Oceaneering International, Inc. (5th Cir. 2024), the court held that an ROV technician’s work “easily satisfied” the vessel-contribution requirement. If your employer tells you that you are not a seaman, that is their argument, not the answer.

What Can I Recover?

An injured Louisiana seaman can recover two separate categories of compensation.

Maintenance and cure, owed automatically. From the day you are hurt in service of the vessel, your employer owes maintenance and cure regardless of fault: a daily living allowance and all medical care until you reach maximum medical improvement. You choose your own doctor. Many seamen are also owed unearned wages through the end of the hitch or contract. If an employer willfully refuses to pay, the Supreme Court held in Atlantic Sounding Co. v. Townsend, 557 U.S. 404 (2009), that punitive damages are available on top.

Full damages, when negligence or unseaworthiness caused the injury. Past and future lost wages, future earning capacity, all medical care, and pain and suffering, mental anguish, and disfigurement. For a seaman who can never return to the water, future earning capacity is usually the largest number in the case and the one insurers fight hardest to shrink. Families who lose a loved one offshore can bring wrongful death claims.

Which Law Covers Me & How Long Do I Have?

Several federal laws cover injured maritime workers, each with its own deadline. Which one applies depends on your duties and your connection to a vessel, not your job title, and companies routinely classify workers in whichever direction costs them less.

For occupational illness, including chemical exposure and hearing loss, the clock may start when you discover the condition rather than when the exposure happened. Either way, do not wait. Vessels sail, crews scatter, and logs get overwritten.

Unseaworthiness Claims: A Separate Path to Compensation

Alongside a Jones Act negligence claim, an injured seaman can bring an unseaworthiness claim under general maritime law against the vessel’s owner. The duty to provide a vessel reasonably fit for its purpose is absolute and cannot be delegated to anyone else. A vessel can be unseaworthy because of defective equipment, an undertrained or short-handed crew, missing safety gear, improperly stowed cargo, or unsafe living conditions.

Because negligence targets your employer’s conduct and unseaworthiness targets the vessel itself, most serious cases assert both. The remedies differ too: punitive damages are available for willfully withheld maintenance and cure, but not for unseaworthiness (The Dutra Group v. Batterton, 2019) or Jones Act negligence. 

Choosing the right combination of claims is one of the first decisions in the case.

Offshore Accidents & Injuries We Handle

Louisiana seamen get hurt in ways that land jobs rarely produce, and often hundreds of miles from the nearest hospital. We handle cases arising from vessel collisions and capsizings, oil rig explosions and fires, falls on wet decks and gangways, crane and winch failures, crush injuries from shifting cargo and equipment, basket transfer accidents, chemical exposure, and man-overboard incidents.

The injuries that follow are catastrophic: 

• Traumatic brain injuries
• Spinal damage and paralysis
• Amputations
• Burns
• Drowning

Commercial fishing remains among the deadliest work in the state.

Who Can I File a Jones Act Claim Against?

Your employer, and often more than one company. In Louisiana that includes:

• Offshore oil and gas operators. Companies running drilling rigs and production platforms in the Gulf, including operators like Shell Offshore, Chevron U.S.A., and BP.
• Barge and tugboat companies. Ingram Barge Company, Canal Barge Company, and Marquette Transportation move cargo up and down the Mississippi River system and the Intracoastal Waterway.
• Offshore service and supply operators. SEACOR Marine, Harvey Gulf International Marine, and Edison Chouest Offshore run the crew boats, supply vessels, and liftboats that serve the Gulf fields.
• Shipping and cargo carriers. Deep-draft vessels calling at the Port of South Louisiana and the Port of Greater Baton Rouge, where our firm represented the widows of the El Faro crew after the vessel sailed into Hurricane Joaquin.
• Commercial fishing and seafood companies. From large operators to local shrimping fleets working the coastal parishes.

Working Louisiana’s Waters

Louisiana’s maritime economy has no equal in the United States. The Port of South Louisiana, stretching between Baton Rouge and New Orleans, is one of the busiest ports in the world. The Port of Greater Baton Rouge is the deepwater gateway for agricultural exports, petroleum products, and chemical shipments. Port Fourchon services the majority of deepwater Gulf activity. Between them run the Mississippi River, the Intracoastal Waterway, and the bayous and lakes that put tens of thousands of Louisiana seamen on the water every day.

That geography also decides where your case is heard. 

Jones Act claims arising in Louisiana are typically filed in the Middle District of Louisiana, the Eastern District in New Orleans, or the Western District, or in state court under the saving-to-suitors clause. Which forum a case belongs in is a strategic decision, and it is one we make deliberately. We represent seamen throughout the state, from Baton Rouge and New Orleans to Houma, Morgan City, Lake Charles, and the coastal parishes.

How We Handle Louisiana Jones Act Claims

Maritime employers and their insurers know which firms will actually try a case. 

We prepare every Jones Act case for trial from the day we are hired: preservation letters for vessel logs and electronic data, crew depositions before stories harden, and the vocational experts, life-care planners, and economists who prove what a career on the water was worth. That preparation is why a company that offered $300,000 ended up facing a $16.9 million verdict, and why another settled for $14 million two days before jury selection.

Credentials Behind the Preparation

Our founding partners are members of the Inner Circle of Advocates, a group limited to 100 plaintiff’s lawyers nationally. The firm holds Tier 1 rankings from Best Law Firms by Best Lawyers for Admiralty and Maritime Law. We represented one-third of the Deepwater Horizon crew and the families of the El Faro. We have recovered more than $25 billion for our clients, we advance every litigation cost, and you pay nothing unless we win. You can hear from clients directly by viewing their testimonial videos.

Talk to a Louisiana Jones Act Attorney Today

The company’s claims team started working your file the day you were hurt. You should have someone working for you. Call Arnold & Itkin at (888) 493-1629 for a free, confidential consultation with a Louisiana Jones Act lawyer, or read more about our Louisiana maritime practice. We fight for the seamen who keep this state’s rivers, ports, and offshore fields running. No Matter What.