Florida Maritime and Admiralty Lawyers
Maritime and admiralty law is a highly specialized field that requires a knowledgeable, experienced Jacksonville admiralty attorney to get the very best results.
At Farah & Farah, our Florida maritime attorneys are proud of our strong record in this complex and intricate area of the law. Our notable results include a $3.3 million recovery for a man whose neck and back were permanently injured when his pleasure boat struck a construction company's 128-foot barge. The barge was moored at night in an unorthodox location under a bridge; only half of the barge's jury-rigged lights were working, and many of those were inadequate to warn other boaters that it was there. Our client, sitting on the bow of the pleasure ship, saw the barge only seconds before he was thrown into the water and against the barge itself. The construction company offered to settle before trial for an amount less than 1 percent of the final judgment; we refused and won $3.3 million for our client. The negligent company appealed the case all the way to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta, but the court upheld our verdict in April of 2006.
More information about Eddie Farah
Florida has the highest rate of recreational boating accidents in the United States.
Florida has hundreds of miles of beautiful coastline that naturally attract thousands of maritime workers, recreational boaters and cruise ship passengers. Unfortunately, not everyone in our state takes boating safety seriously. And when things go wrong on the water, the laws we're used to following on land don't apply; rather, we use a special set of State and Federal laws called maritime and admiralty laws. In a cruise ship case, the law can be even more complex, since it's often governed by contracts passengers sign when they book the cruise. Hiring an attorney with expertise in the intricacies of maritime law, like the legal professionals at Farah & Farah, can make a dramatic difference to the outcome of a boating lawsuit.
Sailors, dock workers and others who spend a significant amount of time working on a boat, ship or drilling platform are protected by two special Federal laws, the Jones Act and the Death on the High Seas Act. The Jones Act provides a form of workers' compensation for seamen who are injured at work. It requires employers to pay medical bills and provide for their living expenses ("cure and maintenance") while they're out of work, regardless of who was at fault. Importantly, it also allows injured seamen to file suit when they are injured on the job by an inherently unseaworthy vessel or by the carelessness of their employers or colleagues. Compensation they can collect in such a suit includes not only the costs of the injuries, but also damages for pain and suffering, lost wages and disfigurement. Survivors of sailors killed at sea may also file suit for wrongful death under the Jones Act. And those who lose loved ones to an accident more than three miles offshore may also file suit under the Death on the High Seas Act -- regardless of whether the deceased qualified as a seaman under the Jones Act.
At Farah & Farah, we take pride in representing pleasure boaters, maritime workers, cruise ship passengers and shore workers who have suffered a personal injury. Just because you were injured away from the land doesn't mean you don't have legal rights. With more than 25 years of experience in Florida and Federal maritime law, our Jacksonville maritime lawyers can help you evaluate your case, decide which maritime and shoreside laws apply, and pursue the best possible outcome in a court of law.
For your free, no-obligation consultation, call our Jacksonville office today at 1.800.611.0478.