Maritime is a set of facts, not one claim
The word “maritime” describes where and how an incident happened, not what legal claim follows from it. A deckhand hurt during a mooring operation, a longshore worker struck at a container terminal, a contractor injured on a platform, and a passenger hurt on a charter boat are all maritime matters in ordinary speech. They are governed by different rules, involve different companies, and depend on different records.
Leatherwood & Schindler therefore begins a maritime review with four questions. Where did the incident happen? What was the injured person doing, and for whom? What vessel was involved, and what was its connection to the work? Who holds the records that can explain the event? The answers determine which legal framework requires analysis, and that analysis comes after the facts, not before.
Where the incident happened
Location shapes both the evidence and the law. An incident aboard a vessel that is underway or moored raises questions about the vessel’s owner, operator, and charterer, its condition, and its crew. An incident on a pier, wharf, or terminal brings in the terminal operator, the stevedore, and the equipment in use. Harbor and ship-channel incidents can involve tugs, tows, pilots, dredges, and passing traffic. Offshore incidents add the operator of the platform or project and the vessels that serve it.
Houston sits at the center of this range of settings. Port Houston owns and operates eight public terminals along the 52-mile Houston Ship Channel, which also includes more than 200 private terminals. Commercial vessels, container and breakbulk terminals, tug and barge operations, and offshore supply work all run through the region. That concentration is why maritime records in a Houston matter are usually spread among several companies and at least one federal agency.
What the injured person was doing
The injured person’s role is the single most consequential fact in a maritime review because different bodies of law describe the rights of different workers and passengers.
The Jones Act gives a seaman injured in the course of employment a negligence action against the employer. Whether a particular worker is a seaman depends on the worker’s duties and connection to a vessel in navigation, and courts decide that question from the facts.
The Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act covers employees in maritime employment, such as longshore workers, ship repairers, shipbuilders, and harbor construction workers, who are injured on navigable waters or on adjoining piers, wharves, terminals, and similar areas, and it expressly excludes masters and members of a vessel’s crew. Workers on the outer continental shelf, passengers, and recreational boaters fall under still other rules.
Your status requires a case-specific review. We collect employment, assignment, crew, and vessel records early so counsel can reach a conclusion from evidence. Jones Act claims, Longshore and harbor worker claims, offshore accidents, and recreational boating accidents are each explained in their own terms.
The vessel connection
The same injury can raise different questions depending on the vessel involved. A crew member hurt by a defective winch aboard a vessel, a harbor worker hurt by the same winch while working from the dock, and a contractor hurt by it on a platform are not in the same legal position. Identifying the vessel by name and ownership, determining who operated and chartered it, and understanding what it was doing at the time are early steps in every maritime review.
Vessel identity also determines what data exists. Larger commercial vessels and towing vessels above defined size and power thresholds must carry automatic identification systems that broadcast position, and some vessels carry voyage data recorders. Smaller commercial craft and recreational boats often carry neither. The firm confirms what a particular vessel was required and equipped to record before assuming location or navigation data is available.
Who holds the records
- A vessel owner or operator typically controls deck and engine logs, crew lists and watch schedules, maintenance and inspection records, safety-management documents, and any location or voyage data.
- An employer, which may be a different company, holds incident reports, training records, job safety analyses, and, for longshore employers, the injury reports the Longshore Act requires them to file.
- A terminal operator may hold gate transactions, equipment records, and vessel schedules for its own facility.
- Stevedores, staffing companies, equipment lessors, and other contractors hold their own files.
The Coast Guard is usually the principal public record source. Federal regulations require the owner, agent, master, operator, or person in charge of a commercial vessel to notify the Coast Guard of defined marine casualties, including a loss of life or an injury requiring professional medical treatment beyond first aid (and, for someone working aboard a commercial vessel, one that leaves the person unfit for routine duties), and to file a written report on Form CG-2692 within five days.
The Coast Guard publishes summary information about closed investigations through its incident investigation reports system, which carries its own completeness disclaimer. Not every incident meets the reporting triggers, not every report is public, and how any Coast Guard finding may be used in a civil case is a legal question that counsel addresses separately.
Why vessel and terminal evidence moves quickly
Vessels sail. Cargo operations finish and the equipment returns to service. Location data and camera recordings are kept only briefly on many systems, and crews disperse to other vessels and other ports. The account and photographs a worker made on the day are frequently the evidence that survives longest, which is why the firm asks for them first and then works outward to the company and agency records.
Preservation requests in a maritime matter are addressed to the specific company that controls each category of record: the owner or operator for logs and data, the terminal for gate and equipment records, the employer for assignment and training files, and the Coast Guard for casualty reports.
Which page applies
Your work, location, and connection to a vessel help identify the legal questions that apply.
- Seaman status, the Jones Act negligence standard, unseaworthiness, and maintenance and cure are the subject of Jones Act claims.
- Coverage, benefits, and third-party claims for dock, terminal, shipyard, and harbor workers are the subject of Longshore and harbor worker claims.
- Platform, rig, and outer-continental-shelf matters are offshore accidents, and recreational incidents are boating accidents or jet ski accidents.
- Commercial fishing incidents are reviewed here as vessel operations; the seaman-status questions they raise are Jones Act questions.
- Land-based industrial work, including onshore oilfield operations, falls under workplace and industrial injuries.
- A death on a vessel, at a terminal, or offshore adds the family and estate questions of a wrongful death claim, and can bring in the specialized federal rules that apply to some deaths at sea.
Starting the review
You do not need to know which maritime law applies before contacting us. Start with where and when the injury happened, the vessel or facility, your employer, the work you were doing, and the medical care you have received. Leatherwood & Schindler can review those facts and explain the legal questions that need attention.