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Our law firm proudly serves the west coast including Washington, Oregon, California and Alaska. Call 1-800-BOATLAW today for more information. https://www.boatlaw.com
Recovering from Spinal Injury | Client Testimonial
Our law firm proudly serves the west coast including Washington, Oregon, California and Alaska. Call 1-800-BOATLAW today for more information. https://www.boatlaw.com
Jones Act Attorneys | The Jones Act Explained by Maritime Lawyers at BoatLaw, LLP
https://www.boatlaw.com - Admiralty and Maritime lawyers serving the west coast. Our firm represents the hardworking people of the maritime industry who were injured while working at sea. This includes accidents that occurred on a fishing vessel, tug, barge, oil rig, or other type of seagoing vessel. Our law firm proudly serves the west coast including Washington, Oregon, California and Alaska. Call today for more information. BoatLaw, LLP locations: Bellingham, WA 23 Bellwether Way, Suite 101 Bellingham, WA 98225 (360) 671-6711 Seattle, WA 85 S. Washington Street, Suite 308 Seattle, WA 98104 (206) 624-8647 Portland, OR 6215 NE 31st Ave Portland, OR 97211 (503) 232-6711 San Francisco, CA 201 Spear St Suite 1100 San Francisco, CA 94105 (415) 851-2424 Los Angeles, CA 7080 Hollywood Boulevard, Suite 1100 Los Angeles, CA 90028 (323) 386-4686 http://www.boatlaw.com
BoatLaw – Maritime Injury Lawyers serving Washington, Oregon, California, and Alaska
BoatLaw, LLP Partner, Nick Neidzwski, dives deeper into the subject of Calculating Damages based on the Impact of a Personal Injury. Our law firm proudly serves the west coast including Washington, Oregon, California and Alaska. Call 1-800-BOATLAW today for more information. Transcription: " in any personal injury case our client is our greatest resource we take the time to spend time with them in their home to spend time with them with their families and their co-workers we want to understand who they are and who they used to be before an incident and we take this time because it is critical for damages for any case to understand how our client was impacted in every facet of their life from an incident and in spending time with our clients we get an understanding of what type of income they used to earn we get an understanding of what they love to do with their family we get an understanding of who they were as a person what activities they like to do what sports they like to do so we can describe the impact that a personal injury incident made on their life we describe that impact to a judge a jury a mediator opposing counsel to maximize our clients recovery there are several categories of Damages in most personal injury cases one is medical expenses oftentimes medical expenses can be daunting you can be receiving bill after Bill from different hospitals those are expenses that we seek to recover in your lawsuit you may not be able to return to your job prior to the injury this is called loss of earning capacity or lost wages we seek lost wages from the point in time of the incident through present date and we also seek loss of earning capacity from the present day through your future working life expectancy and in doing so we look at your trajectory we look at your age we look at what kind of job you had what you earned in the past what you expected to earn in the future what your career goals were where did you want to be in five years where did you want to be in 10 years and now where do you have to be because of the incident what kind of training do you have to go through now because of the incident do you need to retrain yourself in a different vocation do you need to go back to college do you need to go back to trade school do you need to learn how to work in an office when your entire career was outside of an office we look at those factors we look at that impact so we can describe to anyone whether it be a judge a jury a mediator or opposing counsel the impact that an incident has had on your life we also look at General pain and suffering your general loss of enjoyment of life we look at your medical treatment that you needed to incur because of an incident maybe you needed to go through one surgery or multiple surgeries all of these factors are relevant to putting a number on your pain and suffering and loss of enjoyment of life" https://www.boatlaw.com
Calculating Damages based on the Impact of a Personal Injury on our Clients
BoatLaw, LLP Partner, Nick Neidzwski, dives deeper into the subject of Premises Liability, Slip and Fall Accidents and Personal Injuries. Our law firm proudly serves the west coast including Washington, Oregon, California and Alaska. Call 1-800-BOATLAW today for more information. Transcription: "premise liability cases involve liability of an owner of property for things on that property that cause injury or death it can be someone slipping on a driveway on a piece of ice it can be someone walking up or down a flight of dangerous stairs premise liability cases happen frequently because many areas where people go have some type of risk and in any premise liability case it is vital to get to the scene to look at it before it is changed in a case involving a slip and fall on ice it is imperative to look at the weather reports talk to a weather expert talk to a biomechanical engineer who can really understand how the slip occurred and what could have been done to prevent it we have handled cases involving defective stairways and most stairs and most construction are governed by particular codes particular laws it is imperative that any lawyer understand when the set of stairs was constructed when the home was constructed or the building was constructed they need to understand the applicable codes and laws to aggressively pursue your case" https://www.boatlaw.com https://www.boatlaw.com/types-of-accidents/slip-and-fall-trip-and-fall/
Premises Liability, Slip and Fall Accidents and Personal Injuries | BoatLaw, LLP
BoatLaw, LLP Partner, Nick Neidzwski, dives deeper into the subject of The Bias of an Independent Medical Examination in Maritime Injury Cases. Our law firm proudly serves the west coast including Washington, Oregon, California and Alaska. Call 1-800-BOATLAW today for more information. Transcription: "many corporate defendants demand that our clients go through what's called an ime which is known as an independent medical examination there is nothing however independent about an independent medical examination these medical examinations are typically done by a doctor hired by the insurance company or hired by the corporate defendant and this doctor is biased in the sense that this doctor is not looking out for our client is not looking at our client in terms of what medical attention what medical treatment they need instead they're looking at the examination to give support for a defense in the case such as this injury didn't relate to an incident that's subject to the lawsuit but some other incident years before or our client doesn't need the medical attention that actual treating doctors say they do so we make sure that our clients have someone on their behalf at a medical examination that's demanded by the defense I will never use the term independent medical examination in any correspondence or in any conversation that I have because again there's nothing independent about it instead I will use the phrase defense medical examination we will make sure our client is prepared for a defense medical examination we will make sure that they are ready that they have an understanding of the questions that will be asked what they will need to do during a defense medical examination and we will make sure that we have someone there present for them on their behalf at that examination so that there can be an accurate reporting of what actually occurs" https://www.boatlaw.com
The Bias of an Independent Medical Examination (IME) in Maritime Injury Cases
BoatLaw, LLP Partner, Nick Neidzwski, dives deeper into the subject of Plaintiff Representation in Maritime Personal Injury Cases. Our law firm proudly serves the west coast including Washington, Oregon, California and Alaska. Call 1-800-BOATLAW today for more information. Transcription: "representing the plaintiff in a case it is our duty to push things along it's our duty to file the complaint in court it's our duty to make sure that the case is moving along many defendants many corporations will try to do everything they can to delay a case to make sure trial is pushed off or continued it's our duty to make sure that we are getting to trial as quickly and as efficiently as possible while still doing everything we need to do to make sure we're ready deposing all the key Witnesses making sure we have the key experts making sure that we can present your case in front of a judge and a jury so we will do that as quickly and as efficiently as possible while still doing everything we need to do to make sure that we are all confident to try your case many corporate defendants will engage in what we call delay tactics or tactics to continue a trial date to make it harder for you to get your day in court we will do everything in our power however to make sure that your case is moving along as quickly and as efficiently as possible we will for example file a motion to compel the production of Discovery Records if we need to file a motion many of our cases involve motion practice or filing motions before trial and we have the number of cases to allow us to take the time on each case to file whatever necessary motions we need to file to make sure that we are moving the case along as quickly as possible before trial" https://www.boatlaw.com
Plaintiff Representation in Maritime Personal Injury Cases | BoatLaw, LLP
BoatLaw, LLP Partner, Nick Neidzwski, dives deeper into the subject of Maintenance, Cure and Unearned Wages in Maritime Injury Cases. Our law firm proudly serves the west coast including Washington, Oregon, California and Alaska. Call 1-800-BOATLAW today for more information. Transcription: "as an injured Maritime crew member you are entitled to certain benefits under maritime law without regard to fault you're entitled to what's called maintenance and cure and unearned wages maintenance is a rate designed to compensate you for your food and lodging while you are receiving medical treatment cure is the payment of your medical expenses and unearned wages are wages that you would have earned but for your injuries through the contemplated period of employment maintenance and cure has been around for a long time historically it meant sending an injured sailor to Tavern making sure they had a roof over their head food to eat and a doctor to see and making sure they had that until they reached what's called maximum medical improvement which is essentially when there's no further medical treatment that can help improve their condition maintenance and cure has evolved now to look at someone's rent to look at their mortgage to look at their average food bills to look at their utilities to make sure they're getting the appropriate maintenance rate that's something we help with that's something that we make sure that they are getting the appropriate rate to cover those expenses while they are receiving the medical treatment they require cure is another thing we help with in making sure that our client is choosing their own doctor and getting the medical treatment they need and that their medical treatment is being paid by the decimal maintenance cure and unearned wages are three rights that Maritime workers have had over the course of hundreds of years unfortunately it often requires maritime lawyers to ensure that those rights are in place and that the vessel owner is paying for those benefits we help ensure that injured Maritime workers receive the benefits that they are entitled to without regard to fault and then they have certain fault-based causes of action as well which we pursue in terms of working up the case to establish negligence or to establish unseaworthiness of the vessel so they could pursue their fault-based causes of action" https://www.boatlaw.com https://www.boatlaw.com/admiralty-and-maritime-law/maintenance-and-cure/
Maintenance, Cure and Unearned Wages in Maritime Injury Cases | BoatLaw, LLP
BoatLaw, LLP Partner, Nick Neidzwski, dives deeper into the subject of the elements of admiralty law Our law firm proudly serves the west coast including Washington, Oregon, California and Alaska. Call 1-800-BOATLAW today for more information. Transcription: "a question we frequently get is what is maritime law maritime law law of the sea is a unique collection of law based upon common law judge made law developed by courts and statutory law enacted by Congress over the past centuries some of our maritime law comes from England some Maritime principles that still apply today applied 200 years ago it's a truly historical area of law but an area of law that is still constantly changing for maritime law to apply three main elements need to be met first the incident must occur on navigable Waters of the United States second the incident must have the potential to disrupt Maritime Commerce third the incident must bear a substantial relationship to a traditional Maritime activity what's navigable water of the United States a definition used by courts is water that is subject to the ebb and flow of Tides or water that is presently used or historically used for Interstate or foreign Commerce the second element whether the incident has the potential to disrupt Maritime Commerce really focuses on that word potential the incident does not actually have to disrupt Maritime Commerce instead you look at not the particular circumstances but the general conduct of the incident and the court makes a determination whether it has the potential to disrupt Maritime Commerce a case comes to mind where there is a fire on board a vessel at a dock the fire however did not spread to other vessels did not spread to the dock but the court ultimately determined that maritime law applied because the incident had the potential to disrupt Maritime Commerce the last element whether the incident has a substantial relationship to a traditional Maritime activity sometimes is very easy to determine for example fishing fishing is a traditional Maritime activity an incident occurring on or around a commercial fishing vessel is going to be governed by maritime law two swimmers however not connected to a vessel may not have that third element met a recreational diver going into the water with no connection to a vessel Also may not have that third element met an airplane crash in navigable water can be governed by maritime law and also cannot be it depends on the nature of the flight for example most international flights over oceans could be governed by maritime law because they are essentially replacing what a vessel would have done they are transporting people from point A to point B over navigable water and if tragically that Airline crashes in navigable water in an ocean that's going to be likely governed by maritime law versus a plane that is not just transporting people over navigable water but just happens to crash in navigable water or a plane that is used for sport or for Aviation purposes that just happens to crash in navigable water that may not be governed by maritime law a lot of times it comes down to whether there's a vessel involved" https://www.boatlaw.com
What is Maritime Law? Elements of Admiralty Law Explained | BoatLaw, LLP
BoatLaw, LLP Partner, Nick Neidzwski, dives deeper into the subject of the legal definition of a vessel under Maritime Law. Our law firm proudly serves the west coast including Washington, Oregon, California and Alaska. Call 1-800-BOATLAW today for more information. Transcription: "the next question we often receive is what is a vessel and a vessel is a watercraft designed to transport either Goods or people and sometimes it's very easy to determine whether something's a vessel or not and sometimes it's much more difficult for example there's many cases involving houseboats not every floating structure is a vessel and courts will look at the purpose of the houseboat is the purpose to transport Goods or people or for someone to live on the houseboat in one particular location is the houseboat for example self-propelled or does it not have any means of propulsion these types of questions are questions a court will ask and we will ask in determining this threshold issue of whether maritime law applies a wharf boat for example that is tied down to a riverbed that does not move at all over the course of a year is likely not a vessel however a barge which is stationary for half the year and for the other half of the year it actually moves on water is likely a vessel" https://www.boatlaw.com
What is a Vessel? Legal Definition of a Vessel under Maritime Law | BoatLaw, LLP
BoatLaw, LLP Partner, Nick Neidzwski, dives deeper into the subject of Navigable Water. Our law firm proudly serves the west coast including Washington, Oregon, California and Alaska. Call 1-800-BOATLAW today for more information. Transcription: "what's navigable water of the United States a definition used by courts is water that is subject to the ebb and flow of Tides or water that is presently used or historically used for Interstate or foreign Commerce some bodies of water are easy to determine as navigable for example the Columbia river flows out into the Pacific Ocean it is navigable water it's been used for Commerce for many many years it's subject to the ebb and flow of Tides it is navigable water other bodies of water are a little bit more difficult to determine whether they are navigable or not most lakes within a state that don't span state lines are not governed by maritime law instead they're governed by state law for example Lake Chelan in Washington is governed by Washington state law instead of maritime law because it doesn't span state lines a lake however like Lake Tahoe which spans California and Nevada is navigable water because it spans state lines and is presently used and has historically been used for interstate commerce we have litigated in a number of cases the issue of whether a body of water is navigable water one example that I can give is the Drakes estero in Point Reyes National Seashore in California there was a case in the federal court in San Francisco Northern District of California we said that Drake's Estero was navigable water the other side said no it's not navigable water and the federal judge ultimately sided with us and said the Drake's Estero is navigable water based upon documentation that we presented showing that many years ago that Drakes estero was used to transport produce in and around the San Francisco Bay area and the judge explained that once a Waterway is determined to be navigable it remains so the judge point pointed out that continuous commercial use is not necessary so even though the Drakes estero is not currently used for interstate commerce it's not currently used to transport produce around the San Francisco Bay Area the fact that it was used for that in the past shows that the Waterway is navigable" https://www.boatlaw.com
What is Navigable Water? Legal Definition under Maritime Law | BoatLaw, LLP
BoatLaw, LLP Partner, Nick Neidzwski, dives deeper into the subject of Commercial Diver’s Qualification and Status as a Jones Act Seaman. Our law firm proudly serves the west coast including Washington, Oregon, California and Alaska. Call 1-800-BOATLAW today for more information. Transcription: "commercial divers often qualify as Jones act Seaman who are entitled to make a Jones act negligence claim an unseaworthiness claim and a claim for maintenance and cure your three major causes of action for Jones act Seaman in many commercial diving cases seamen status is contested a vessel owner may try to argue that the commercial diver that was injured does not qualify as a Jones act Seaman there are two main elements for Seamans status under the Jones Act first the worker must have contributed to the vessel's mission or function and secondly the worker must have a substantial connection to the vessel in terms of both nature and duration some vessel owners will argue that commercial divers do not meet the test of duration necessary to become a Jones act Seaman meaning that they contest that the commercial diver had a connection that was substantial in duration to a vessel and navigation or to a group of vessels in navigation for commercial divers we look at sometimes years and years of their time records to assess whether they spent more than 30 percent or 30 percent at least of their time on a vessel in navigable water and that entails sometimes looking through time record after time record to look at their time and assess whether eight hours of their day or ten hours of their day or 12 hours of their day was spent on a vessel in navigable water if the workers time is under 30 percent they may not meet the duration test under the second element for seamen status in assessing seamen status for commercial divers the very definition of a vessel Also may come into play sometimes we see argument that a barge or a wharf boat that a commercial diver was diving from was not a vessel and therefore that time award that Wharf boat or barge does not count towards the 30 percent test we have experience and are prepared to analyze in great detail whether a commercial diver qualifies as a Jones act Seaman or if not as a longshoreman who also has claims to make against the vessel owner and has also claims to make against third parties under General maritime law" https://www.boatlaw.com https://www.boatlaw.com/who-we-represent/commercial-divers/
Commercial Diver’s Qualification and Status as a Jones Act Seaman | BoatLaw, LLP
BoatLaw, LLP Partner, Doug Williams, dives deeper into the subject of Cruise Ship Injuries. Our law firm proudly serves the west coast including Washington, Oregon, California and Alaska. Call 1-800-BOATLAW today for more information. Transcription: "at our Law Firm we represent cruise ship passengers that have suffered injuries during the course of their Cruise now cruises can be a lot of fun they're a great way to see particularly Southeast Alaska where many of the cities are only accessible by boat i've been on numerous cruises throughout the Caribbean Alaska and Hawaii my legal career began in Florida representing cruise ships and their insurance companies then when we moved to Seattle I continued in that defending cruise lines in passenger injury litigation a trip and fall or a slip and fall accident aboard a cruise ship is governed by a general maritime law an injured passenger has a general maritime law negligence cause of action against the cruise line for injuries that happen on the cruise or on a cruise ship Excursion the cruise lines do just about everything they can to limit their liability for the inevitable accidents that happen during cruises and the cruise lines put a lot of fine print into your cruise ticket many people don't know this but your cruise ticket is actually an admiralty contract interpreted under the maritime laws and the courts do enforce the limitations that are contained within your cruise ticket the cruise ticket dictates where litigation may take place against the cruise line all cruise ship litigation takes place in the federal courts of the southern district of Florida in Miami and some of it takes place here in Seattle in the Western District of Washington the cruise ticket requires suit to be brought in federal court the cruise ticket also shortens the time period in which you may bring a lawsuit against the cruise line for an injury that happened during a cruise so not only does it reduce the amount of places where you can actually sue the cruise line it also reduces the time you have to bring a claim the typical cruise ship ticket requires that you file a written notice of claim within six months time or else your claim is lost forever this written notice of claim is typically a letter setting forth what happened and the passenger's intent to hold the cruise line responsible the cruise ticket also contains a one-year limitation period within which suit must be brought if the lawsuit is filed 366 days after the accident the claim may be barred forever for cruises that do not touch United States ports there are additional limitations that may apply so it is important that you seek counsel with an experienced Maritime lawyer after suffering an injury aboard a cruise ship generally the passenger has a general maritime law negligence action for Cruise Line injuries there are occasions where strict liability May apply since the cruise line is a common carrier the courts have held that strict liability applies to any injuries that are suffered at the hands of an intentional assault perpetrated by a crew member whether it actually happens aboard the vessel or on ashore the cruise vessel security and safety Act was passed into law in 2010 by President Obama in a response to some of the frequent incidents that are occurring aboard these cruise ships out at Sea in international waters under this statute guide rails need to be of a certain height your state room must have a peephole that allows the passenger to peep out and see who's at their door in the middle of the night additionally there are reporting requirements for criminal activity that take place on these cruises" https://www.boatlaw.com https://www.boatlaw.com/types-of-accidents/cruise-ship-injuries/
Cruise Ship Injury Attorney | Representing Cruise Ship Accident Victims | BoatLaw, LLP
BoatLaw, LLP Partner, Nick Neidzwski, dives deeper into the subject of Jones Act Wrongful Death Cases and Death on the High Seas Act (DOHSA). Our law firm proudly serves the west coast including Washington, Oregon, California and Alaska. Call 1-800-BOATLAW today for more information. Transcription: "in addition to representing Injured Workers we also represent family members of a family who has had someone perish at Sea and the damages recoverable in this tragedy depend on the applicable law the Jones act allows pecuniary damages for those Jones act seamen who perish at Sea these damages include loss of financial support that the family can seek and this looks at what the deceased individual was earning what support that individual was able to provide to their family and the families now lack of that support Jones act wrongful death also allows recovery for any medical or funeral expenses incurred for the deceased individual following their incident up through death these can be very substantial depending on the nature of the case depending on how much treatment the Jones act Seaman received before dying Jones act wrongful death claims also allow a limited Survival action for pre-death pain and suffering for the deceased worker and this is like many other causes of action very fact dependent you look at the pain and suffering that that individual had to incur between the incident and their death so for a drowning case for example we will sometimes hire medical experts to testify as to how long someone likely survived after a shipwreck in water before they perished really the torture that that person had to go through between a shipwreck and dying that is relevant to a survival action under the Jones act wrongful death for pre-death pain and suffering it allows us to ask a jury to put a number on that under the death on the high seas act otherwise known as Dosha the damages are very similar to wrongful death damages recoverable under the Jones act pecuniary damages in addition to a limited survival survival action for pre-death pain and suffering Dohsa the death on the high seas act will apply if the death occurs outside of three nautical miles from a coast the Jones act will apply if a death occurs to a Jones act Seaman within three nautical miles of a coast the Jones Act and the death on the high seas act unfortunately do not allow for Recovery of loss of Love loss of companionship loss of society the pain and suffering of the family members who lost a loved one" https://www.boatlaw.com https://www.boatlaw.com/admiralty-and-maritime-law/death-on-the-high-seas-act/
Jones Act Wrongful Death Cases and Death on the High Seas Act (DOHSA) | BoatLaw, LLP
BoatLaw, LLP Partner, Nick Neidzwski, dives deeper into the subject of Jones Act Damages. Our law firm proudly serves the west coast including Washington, Oregon, California and Alaska. Call 1-800-BOATLAW today for more information. Transcription: "as a Jones act Seaman your categories of Damages fall under economic damages and non-economic damages your categories of economic damages include medical expenses past and future they include your loss of earning capacity which looks at your earnings that you were able to earn before the incident versus what you are able to earn after an incident for example if a Jones act Seaman is 35 years old has worked in the maritime industry for 15 years and he has earned a good salary in the maritime industry but because of an incident cannot go back to work you look at the difference in terms of what he was able to earn before the incident versus what he is limited to earning now and you also look at the trajectory that that individual was on before the incident so it's not just his past earnings that are relevant it's what he would have earned if he had continued on his path versus what he is limited to earning now economic damages also include the cost of retraining if you cannot return to your job of injury if you need to retrain yourself to work in a different profession you may need to go back to school you may need to go to college you may need to have special training in a certain field that you're interested in that you can do which will not violate any medical restrictions or medical limitations all of that cost of retraining is an economic damage in your case that you can pursue as a Jones act Seaman lastly non-economic damages include pain suffering and the loss of enjoyment of life this category of Damages looks at the fundamental change of your life due to an incident the overall impact that an incident has had on your life whether you're able to return to your job whether you're able to help your family like you did whether you're able to perform certain household tasks whether you're able to essentially live the life that you did live before the incident or how you are limited now what activities were you able to do before an incident versus what activities can you do now what activities can you not do as well what activities can you not do and that is a very fact specific inquiry it also looks at the amount of medical treatment that you've had and whether you are going to have permanent medical limitations on your life many of our clients have permanent injuries which will either require them to receive Medical Care in the future or will require them to live in a certain way that they did not have to live in before the incident they'll have to deal with certain lifting restrictions for example or they'll have to deal with certain medical limitations that prevent them from running like they did before incident or running at all many of our clients have had this fundamental change in their life which is all relevant to pain and suffering and this category of Damages so for a successful Jones act negligence claim you need to prove each element you need to prove Duty you need to prove breach you need to prove causation and you need to prove your damages" https://www.boatlaw.com https://www.boatlaw.com/admiralty-and-maritime-law/jones-act/
Jones Act Damages by Maritime Lawyers | BoatLaw, LLP
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