Personal and Maritime Injury

For decades, we have dedicated ourselves to achieving justice for injured individuals. We have obtained many significant verdicts and settlements on behalf of clients throughout the country – including dozens of multimillion-dollar awards for victims of employer negligence, defective products, and improper and unlawful conduct, and multiple personal injury jury verdicts in individual cases over $10 million.

As a representative example, we obtained a $27 million trial verdict on behalf of the widow and children of St. Louis firefighter Derek Martin in a case involving a defective breathing apparatus. The verdict was the largest jury verdict in Missouri in the year it was entered, and was ultimately increased to $40.4 million with interest.

Maritime Injuries

While we represent individuals who have been seriously injured by various forms of wrongdoing, we have a particularly lengthy record of successfully representing workers injured throughout the country on barges, tug boats, and dredges on the inland waterways, as well as those injured offshore.

Maritime workers are covered by the Jones Act, along with general Maritime laws, enacted by Congress to provide protection to individuals injured while working as crew members on vessels due to employer negligence or unseaworthy vessels. Maritime laws also afford seaman compensation in the form of “maintenance and cure” for all injuries and illnesses that occur while working in the service of a vessel even when they are not due to company negligence; these provide payment of daily living expenses and medical bills until the worker reaches maximum medical improvement.

Our firm commands respect throughout the maritime industry for our aggressive representation of all crew members. A representative cross-sampling of our achievements include:

• A $2.25 million settlement on behalf of a deckhand who suffered a leg injury while attempting to secure rigging;
• A $1.6 million settlement on behalf of the wife and young daughter of a 28-year-old deckhand who was crushed between a barge combing and a steel cable that was closing the barge cover;
• A $950,000 verdict on behalf of a widow whose 48-year-old husband died of a heart attack while working as a chief engineer on a triple-screw towboat for extended periods without adequate assistance, causing sleep deprivation and coronary artery disease;
• A $900,000 settlement on behalf of a maritime salvage worker whose leg was severely broken when a crane cable snapped;
• A $708,000 verdict on behalf of a towboat mate who suffered a non-surgical low back injury while jerking slack out of a cable on a high-low coupling;
• A $700,000 settlement on behalf of a chief tugboat engineer who suffered back injuries following a slip and fall; and
• A $650,000 settlement on behalf of an 18-year-old deckhand trainee who fell overboard and was tragically crushed between two vessels during an equipment transfer.

If you were injured while working as a crew member, you may have a legal claim. Contact us today for a no-obligation, confidential consolation.