/ Maritime & Offshore
Maritime and Offshore Injury Lawyers
If you were hurt on a vessel, a rig or a dock, your case may be governed by federal maritime law rather than ordinary Texas injury law. The difference decides who you can sue, how long you have, and what you can recover.
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Hurt offshore, on a vessel or on a dock? Federal law may govern your claim.
/ The short answer
Offshore Work Is Not an Ordinary Injury Case
Most Texas injury claims run on state law. Work on navigable water usually does not. Depending on the job you were doing and the vessel you were doing it on, your claim may fall under the Jones Act, under the Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act, under general maritime law — or under some combination of the three.
Those routes are not interchangeable. They have different defendants, different standards of proof, different deadlines and different damages. Getting the route wrong early is one of the few mistakes in this area that is genuinely hard to undo.
So the first question we ask is not “how badly were you hurt.” It is what were you doing, on what, and for whom — because that is what decides which law applies.
Bring these to the first call
The name of the vessel or rig, and who owned or operated it.
Who signed your paycheck — the vessel owner, a labour contractor, or a staffing company.
Whether you were paid benefits after the injury, and under what name.
Any incident report, and the name of whoever took your statement.
Seaman status decides which law applies. It is worth getting right.
/ The people this covers
Crew, and Everyone Else on the Water
Supply and crew boats, tugs, barges, production platforms and the terminals that serve them all run on different crews with different employers, and the paperwork rarely makes that obvious to the person doing the work.
Whether a particular worker is treated as a seaman is a question of fact about the job and its connection to a vessel. It is contested more often than people expect, and it is the first thing worth settling.
Vessel logs and incident reports do not stay available forever.
/ Three routes
Which Body of Law Covers You
These are the three routes an injured maritime worker most often falls into. Which one fits is a question of fact, and it is worth settling early.
Were you a crew member of a vessel? — the Jones Act
Under 46 U.S.C. § 30104, a seaman injured in the course of employment “may elect to bring a civil action at law, with the right of trial by jury, against the employer.” The same section applies the standards that govern recovery for injury to a railway employee.
That is a negligence claim against your employer, decided by a jury — not a workers’ compensation claim. Whether a particular worker counts as a “seaman” depends on the facts of the job and the connection to a vessel, and it is contested more often than people expect.
Seamen also have separate, long-standing remedies under general maritime law — maintenance and cure — which are court-made rather than statutory and run alongside a negligence claim.
Were you a longshore, harbor or shipyard worker? — the LHWCA
Under 33 U.S.C. § 905(a), the compensation an employer owes under the Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act is “exclusive and in place of all other liability of such employer” for that injury — with an exception if the employer failed to secure the compensation the Act requires.
In other words, the Act usually closes the door on suing your own employer, and opens a benefits claim instead.
Were you hurt by a vessel’s negligence? — the § 905(b) claim
Even where the Act covers you, 33 U.S.C. § 905(b) allows a covered worker injured “by the negligence of a vessel” to bring an action against that vessel as a third party.
The statute is specific about its limits: that liability “shall not be based upon the warranty of seaworthiness,” and the section bars the claim in certain situations — including where the worker was employed by the vessel to provide stevedoring services and the injury was caused by the negligence of people providing those services.
This is frequently the route that matters most for a dock or terminal worker, and it is frequently the one nobody mentions.
Statutory text read from the current United States Code at uscode.house.gov. This page describes the general framework, not advice about your situation. Which route applies — and whether it applies at all — depends on facts a lawyer needs to look at.
Maintenance and cure is owed while you recover. Are you receiving it?
/ The Texas Gulf Coast
Where These Cases Come From
Our clients are hurt on supply and crew boats, on production platforms, on tugs and barges, and on the docks and terminals of the ship channel. Garza Resendez represents injured people across Texas from our Edinburg office, and maritime work is one of the reasons we travel.
3 years
The general federal deadline for a maritime tort personal injury or death action — 46 U.S.C. § 30106, “except as otherwise provided by law”
Jury trial
A Jones Act seaman may elect a civil action at law with the right of trial by jury — 46 U.S.C. § 30104
Not workers’ comp
A Jones Act claim is a negligence claim against the employer, not a compensation claim
Company doctors and company forms are not neutral.
/ What helps
What Actually Protects a Maritime Claim
01
Report it and keep a copy
Ask for the incident report and write down who you gave a statement to. Say what happened; do not guess at causes you do not know.
02
Get treated, and keep going
Gaps in treatment become the defence’s argument later. Follow the plan you are given.
03
Name the vessel
Write down the vessel or rig, the owner, the operator and the charterer if you know it. Those can be three different companies.
04
Be careful what you sign
Releases, recorded statements and “advance” cheques all have consequences. Ask before signing.
Injured along the Texas Gulf Coast or the Port of Houston?
/ Dock and terminal work
On the Dock, a Different Act Applies
Longshore, harbor and shipyard work is covered by its own federal statute, with its own benefits claim and its own notice and filing schedule — separate from any lawsuit.
Where a vessel’s negligence caused the injury, 33 U.S.C. § 905(b) opens a third-party action against that vessel. It is frequently the route that matters most, and frequently the one nobody mentions.
Offshore and dock injuries, in English or Spanish.
/ Deadlines
Time Limits Are Different Here
Section 30106 of Title 46 sets a general three-year limit for a personal injury or death action arising out of a maritime tort — but it opens with the words “except as otherwise provided by law,” and shorter contractual or statutory deadlines can apply depending on the claim and the defendant.
A benefits claim under the Longshore Act runs on its own notice and filing schedule, separate from any lawsuit.
This is general information about federal law, not advice about your case. Deadlines turn on facts, and only a lawyer who has looked at yours can tell you how they apply.
Related work
Our people are often hurt in the same industries on land: oilfield and drilling work, refinery and plant work, and burn injuries.
Crashes on the way to and from the coast are ordinary Texas cases: truck accidents and car accidents.
If a maritime injury was fatal, a wrongful death claim may run under federal law rather than the Texas statute.
Maritime and offshore claims — no fee unless we recover for you.