Maritime law is its own country. Its rules are older than the state’s, and they answer to a different court.
The approach
The department handles injury and compensation claims under the Jones Act, the Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act and the Defense Base Act; admiralty litigation in rem and in personam; marine casualty, salvage and limitation; and the transactional side of yachting — purchase, construction, refit, documentation and operation.
South Florida is a maritime economy, and a great many matters that arrive as something else — an employment claim, an insurance dispute, a purchase gone wrong — turn out to be governed by maritime law. Recognising that in the first week rather than the sixth month usually changes the outcome.
Major areas within the department
Compensation for injury under the Jones Act, the Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act, the Defense Base Act, and general maritime law for passengers and crew who fall outside those statutes.
Litigation in rem and in personam, maritime liens, and the collisions, groundings and salvage claims that follow a casualty at sea — together with the marine insurance disputes they create.
Purchase and sale, construction and refit, and the day-to-day operation of a vessel — charter, crew and documentation.
From the journal
maritime Understanding the Differences: Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act vs. State Workers’ Compensation Introduction In the realm of workers’
maritime Getting started with a claim under the Longshore & Harbor Workers Compensation Act Introduction The Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation
Resources
Representative matters
Details are altered to preserve confidentiality.
Questions
Am I a seaman?
It turns on your connection to a vessel in navigation, not on your job title. The answer decides which body of law governs your claim and, in practice, what it is worth.
What is maintenance and cure?
A shipowner’s near-automatic obligation to pay an injured seaman’s living expenses and medical care. It is owed regardless of fault and should be demanded immediately, in writing.
Does my yacht need to be federally documented?
Not always. But documentation affects financing, liens, foreign cruising and the forum in which any dispute will be heard.
Related
The first conversation costs nothing, and commits you to nothing.
