Jones Act Attorney in Jackson

Understanding Your Rights Under the Jones Act

The Jones Act is a federal law that allows qualifying seamen who are injured because of their employer’s negligence to seek compensation for their losses. This protection is different from ordinary workers’ compensation. It can apply to many Mississippi workers who spend a significant portion of their time on vessels, barges, towboats, or offshore rigs in the Gulf of Mexico and on inland waterways.

Who Is Qualified to File a Jones Act Claim?

In simple terms, you may be considered a “seaman” if you are assigned to a vessel in navigation and your work contributes to the vessel’s mission. That can include crew members on offshore platforms that move or are attached to vessels, deckhands and engineers on boats that travel the river, and others whose jobs keep the vessel operating.

What Damages Does the Jones Act Cover?

Your employer has a duty to provide a reasonably safe place to work. When that duty is not met, and you suffer an injury as a result, the Jones Act can allow you to pursue a claim for damages. Unsafe practices and conditions can take many forms, including short staffing, inadequate training, or ignoring safety rules to speed up a job.

Under this law, you may seek compensation that goes beyond maintenance and cure. A successful Jones Act claim can potentially include lost wages, future loss of earning capacity if you cannot return to offshore work, medical expenses, and damages for physical pain and emotional suffering. These cases are complex, and a Jones Act lawyer helps gather proof to show how your employer’s decisions contributed to what happened.

What Types of Incidents Are Covered by the Jones Act?

Many different situations may qualify an eligible maritime worker for a Jones Act claim. Essentially, if your employer failed to provide a reasonably safe work environment, you could have a claim.

Some of the many specific situations that may lead to a Jones Act claim include:

• Slips, trips, or falls on decks made unsafe by spills, clutter, or poor lighting
• Injuries caused by broken or poorly maintained equipment on a vessel
• Being ordered to work in dangerous weather or sea conditions without proper precautions
• Pressure to work through illness or fatigue that affects safety and judgment
• Insufficient crew members on board, creating hazardous workloads

Every offshore accident has its own facts, and not every injury automatically creates a Jones Act claim. We review how and where you were working, the decisions made by supervisors, and the condition of the vessel to help you understand what the law may allow.

What To Do After an Offshore Injury

The hours and days after a serious offshore or vessel injury are often hectic and confusing. Depending on the nature of your injuries and their severity, you may be airlifted or otherwise transported onshore. You could be admitted to a hospital or sent home to Jackson for treatment. When you're dealing with emergency care, ongoing medical visits, and calls from your employer or insurance adjusters, it can be hard to know how to protect your rights. However, there are practical steps you can take while still putting your recovery first.

Your health comes before everything else. Seek medical care as soon as you can and be honest with your doctors about all symptoms, even those that seem minor. When you return home, keep following up with local physicians and therapists, because gaps in treatment can affect both your recovery and how insurers view your injury.

Most employers require you to report an accident promptly. When you do, focus on the facts, such as what you were doing, what went wrong, and which body parts were hurt. You should be cautious about signing detailed written statements or company-prepared forms that describe blame or “admit” fault. A Jones Act attorney can review these before you sign, so you understand the implications.

We know that many injured workers cannot safely gather evidence themselves at the time of the accident. If you can do so without risk, it may help to note the names of crew members on duty, take photographs of the area or equipment, or keep a personal record of what you remember. And if you cannot safely gather evidence, our firm can work to obtain official reports, maintenance records, and company documents while they are still available.

After an offshore injury, it is common for company representatives or insurers to contact you quickly, sometimes while you are still in pain. They may ask for recorded statements or present documents that look routine. Speaking with a Jones Act lawyer before agreeing to these requests can help prevent unintentional mistakes that limit your claim.

If you reach out to us, we can talk through these steps in more detail and explain how our firm can handle communication with your company and/or the insurance provider so you do not have to manage it alone.

How We Build Jones Act Cases

Jones Act claims call for careful investigation and preparation. At T. Mark Sledge, Attorney at Law, we approach these cases with the same discipline we apply to other complex injury matters. Our goal is to understand exactly how your injury happened, how it affects your life, and what evidence is needed to present a clear story to a judge or jury.

This involves several key steps: 

• We typically begin by gathering key documents. These may include incident reports, vessel logbooks, safety manuals, maintenance records, and company policies that affect how work is performed. We compare what those documents say to what you and other witnesses describe. This process can reveal gaps between written rules and actual practices, which may be important in a Jones Act claim.
• When a case involves technical issues, such as vessel design, equipment performance, or long-term medical limitations, we may work with qualified experts. These professionals can provide opinions about whether the vessel was reasonably safe or how an injury is likely to affect your ability to return to seafaring work. Their input can support claims for future lost earning capacity and necessary medical care.
• Throughout the process, we keep you informed. That means returning calls, explaining legal options in everyday language, and making sure you are part of important decisions. We handle contact with your maritime employer and its insurer, so you are not left to navigate those conversations by yourself. 

Attorney Mark Sledge’s time on the bench in Hinds and Yazoo Counties gives him insight into how courts evaluate evidence in complex litigation. That experience helps us shape which facts to emphasize and how to present them in a way that is understandable and persuasive. We also know how defense teams may try to shift blame to injured workers, so we prepare to address those arguments from the start.