Special laws exist for maritime accidents

Oregon's maritime sector includes people working on fishing and shipping boats, docks and dock workers, ferries, fishing charters, tourist cruise boats, whale tour boats, ship builders, ship wreckers, water way construction; adjoining areas around maritime activities including piers, docks, terminals, wharves, and those areas used in loading and unloading of vessels. Additionally passengers can also pursue injury claims under maritime laws when conditions are unsafe or for negligent operations that cause injury.

When a Maritime worker is injured on the job, there are laws to protect your rights to recovery and compensation.

  • Jones Act
  • Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act
  • The Death on the High Seas Act

I hold a 100 ton United States Coast Guard Captain's License and have fished both commercially and for sport.

I am an Oregon personal injury attorney who knows his way around a boat and I have the knowledge and experience with the laws about boating.

Mike and I have worked together referring business for years so when I got into a serious accident, I knew I had the case won. After a tender and demand, Mike successfully arbitrated my case for an award 15 times that which was initially offered by the carrier. This was no simple red light green light matter, with complicated economic damages and coverage issues. I have referred Colbach to friends and family for years and will continue. -->More

former client Teton Offshorefishing about his personal injury case he hired Mike to work on . Teton Offshorefishing
5 star review posted on Google about Portland personal injury attorney Michael Colbach by Teton Offshorefishing
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In order to prove a boating accident case, you will need boating experts.

I know some excellent professional captains and former Coast Guard captains who I consult with on Oregon boating injury cases. I am also very familiar with boating rules and boating safety.

Contact me for a free consultation to get your legal questions answered as soon as you are able.

Oregon boating accident attorney Mike Colbach is a boat captain himself, holding a 100 ton license and he has fished commercially and for sport.

Pictured Above: Mike Colbach in a flotation suit driving a Coast Guard 47' Motor Life Boat for a day training with a Coast Guard crew from Cape Disappointment.

Michael Colbach has 32 client reviews on Google with a 4.7 rating out of 5

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Mike Colbach holds a 100 ton US Coast Guard Captain's license and understands the complexities of boating accidents and the Jones act

Jones Act

The Jones Act is a Federal law that covers specific types of maritime workers in Oregon and throughout the USA. Making a Jones Act claim provides maritime workers injury-related medical benefits as well as protects the injured maritime worker's right to sue their employer for negligence or unsafe conditions. The Jones Act is more for the sailers, people who are actually on ships vs. harbor workers who have their own set of protective laws.

Seafarers (also referred to as seamen or sailors) who are injured while at sea are entitled to maintenance and cure from their employers or shipowners. 

Maintenance is an injured seafarer's right to day-to-day living expenses. 

Cure is the seafarer's right to medical costs. 

Employers and unions cannot contract out of a seafarer's right to maintenance and cure.

 An injured seafarer shouldn't have to pay for their medical expenses for an injury that ocurred while in service to their employer. However, there can be circumstances where an employer tries to get out of paying. An undisclosed pre-existing injury or medical condition are one type of pathway that might lead to a circumstance where the employer might argue the employee contributed to the situation which lead to the injury.

The amount you receive can vary greatly, and any union membership may additionally determine the amount of money you can receive under maintenance rather than your actual cost of living.

§30104. Personal injury to or death of seamen

A seaman injured in the course of employment or, if the seaman dies from the injury, the personal representative of the seaman may elect to bring a civil action at law, with the right of trial by jury, against the employer. Laws of the United States regulating recovery for personal injury to, or death of, a railway employee apply to an action under this section.

If your injury was caused by improperly maintained ship, then you must prove Unseaworthiness:

A shipowner has the duty to a seaman employed on the ship to furnish a vessel and appurtenances that are reasonably fit for their use. This includes maintaining a ship's equipment in proper operating condition. The failure of a piece of equipment under proper and expected use is sufficient to establish unseaworthiness.

A vessel is unseaworthy if the vessel, or any of its parts or equipment, is not reasonably fit for its intended purpose [or if its crew is not reasonably adequate or competent to perform the work assigned].

Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act

This is another Federal Law that is available to workers in Oregon and throughout the USA.

Like the Jones Act, this law protects workers injured on the job but not at sea, whether in shipyards, harbors, shipping terminals, building or repairing ships, construction in water ways, wharfs, or docks, unloading or loading ships or in those areas.

The Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act provides medical expenses and lost wages to the worker allowing them to recover and return to work or for seriously injured it will provide for vocational rehabilitation services to employees disabled from on the job injuries. This law also provides for survivor benefits in case of death.

The Death on the High Seas Act

When the death of a seaman is caused by a wrongful act, neglect, or defect occurring on the high seas beyond 3 nautical miles from the shore of the United States, the personal representative of the decedent may bring a civil action in admiralty against the person or vessel responsible. Only a spouse, parent, child, or dependent relative can bring this civil action.

Contributory negligence of the decedent is not a bar to recovery but it may reduce the amount recovered accordingly.