What Damages Can You Recover in a Jones Act Lawsuit? – Shlosman – Blog

If you qualify as a seaman and employer negligence caused your injury, you can seek damages for financial losses and pain and suffering under the Jones Act, but not for loss of care, comfort, or companionship. 

These may include medical expenses, lost earnings, and pain and suffering. Knowing what those losses include helps you assess an early settlement offer before accepting it.

The Shlosman Law Firm prepares serious maritime injury cases for trial across the Gulf Coast with careful organization. 

This guide explains recoverable damages, supporting evidence, and how a lawsuit differs from basic maritime benefits.

The Foundation of a Jones Act Claim

The Jones Act allows qualifying seamen to sue their employers for negligence that causes an injury. 46 U.S.C. § 30104 provides the statutory basis for that action. For example:

• Working offshore does not automatically establish seaman status. You generally must have a substantial connection to a vessel in navigation, or an identifiable group of vessels, in both duration and nature. 
• Your actual duties and vessel connection matter more than your job title.
• You must prove employer negligence and show it played some part in causing your injury, however small. An unsafe lifting procedure, for example, may support a claim if the employer’s failure contributed to your back injury.
• Maritime personal injury actions generally must be filed within three years after the cause of action arises under 46 U.S.C. § 30106.

For a New Orleans worker, a generic Louisiana personal-injury deadline is not the proper starting point. An attorney should review when your claim arose and any applicable exceptions.

Economic Damages You Can Recover

Economic damages address the financial losses your injury causes. Your claim should account for both expenses already incurred and supported future losses, without duplicating payments you have received.

Past and Future Medical Expenses

You may seek reasonable injury-related medical costs that remain unpaid, along with supported future treatment expenses. These can include surgery, hospital stays, physical therapy, prescriptions, and necessary rehabilitation.

Future expenses require medical support. A treating physician’s care plan should explain what treatment you will likely need, why you need it, and how long it may continue.

Employer-paid care does not resolve every future medical issue. If your condition requires treatment beyond what those benefits cover, that potential expense needs to be reviewed before settlement. 

Start collecting itemized bills and treatment records after the accident.

Lost Wages and Future Earning Capacity

You can seek wages lost during recovery and compensation for reduced future earning capacity. The second category concerns your ability to earn, even if you return to some form of work.

For example, an offshore worker permanently limited to light-duty shore work may earn substantially less than before the injury. 

Vocational assessments and economic analysis help establish that difference rather than simply multiplying a paycheck by the years remaining until retirement.

Keep pay stubs, tax returns, and employment contracts. Records of overtime and recurring compensation can help establish what you earned before the accident.

Non-Economic Damages You Can Recover

Non-economic damages address the physical and psychological effects of your injury rather than bills or missed paychecks. These losses require evidence even though they do not come with receipts. Review the possible damages:

• Physical pain and suffering may include persistent discomfort, interrupted sleep, and painful rehabilitation after a serious offshore injury. Mental anguish may involve anxiety, depression, or trauma connected to the vessel accident.
• Loss of enjoyment of life concerns activities that your injury prevents or limits. 
• If you previously coached your child’s team but can no longer stand through practice, that change is more informative than a general statement that life is harder. 
• Permanent scarring or disfigurement may also support compensation.

Keep a daily record of pain levels and specific limitations. Describe what happened, such as needing help dressing or stopping a walk because of pain, without exaggeration. Family members and other witnesses can help explain changes they have observed.

Differences Between Negligence Damages and Maritime Benefits

Maintenance and cure is a separate maritime remedy, not a substitute for a Jones Act negligence lawsuit. Eligible seamen generally receive these benefits without having to prove employer fault, subject to applicable defenses.

What is Maintenance?

Maintenance covers basic daily living expenses during recovery. Cure covers necessary injury-related medical treatment until maximum medical improvement, the point at which further treatment is not expected to improve your condition. That does not necessarily mean you are fully healed or able to return offshore.

Defining Negligence

A negligence claim can address broader losses, including pain and suffering and diminished future earning capacity. Receiving maintenance checks does not, by itself, prevent you from pursuing that claim.

You cannot recover the same expense twice. Keep a payment ledger that shows maintenance received and medical bills paid by the employer, so your calculation of damages distinguishes covered expenses from outstanding losses.

When Punitive Damages Apply in Maritime Claims

Punitive damages are not ordinary compensation in a Jones Act case. Standard Jones Act negligence and unseaworthiness claims do not entitle a plaintiff to punitive damages merely because an employer engaged in misconduct.

Atlantic Sounding Co. v. Townsend recognizes punitive damages for qualifying maintenance-and-cure misconduct. 

This separate issue concerns willful withholding of benefits, including conduct that is arbitrary, capricious, or shows callous disregard for the worker’s rights.

Therefore, a disputed bill or delayed response does not automatically meet that standard. The reason for the denial, what the employer knew, and how it responded to supporting medical information matter.

Save benefit requests, denial letters, emails, and notes of telephone conversations.

Even when misconduct warrants examination, your claim still needs proof of actual compensatory losses. The current controlling law must be reviewed before pursuing a punitive remedy.

Evidence Required to Support Your Compensation Claim

Each claimed loss requires evidence linking it to the accident and demonstrating its extent. An organized record helps distinguish a supported damages claim from an estimate.

Different losses call for different proof:

These records work together. A medical restriction may establish that you cannot lift heavy equipment, while a vocational analyst explains how that restriction affects your ability to return to offshore labor. 

An economist can calculate the present value of future earnings losses that are supported.

We prepare accepted cases for trial by gathering this documentation early and methodically. 

Preserve accident reports, witness contact information, and relevant safety logs you lawfully possess; an attorney can pursue records held by the employer.

Case Valuation and Legal Fees

There is no reliable average settlement amount that tells you what your Jones Act case is worth. Injury severity, evidence of liability, recovery prospects, and future financial needs differ from worker to worker. Weigh the following factors when making a claim:

• Strong evidence of employer negligence supports liability, while detailed medical and financial evidence supports the requested damages. 
• The seriousness of an employer’s conduct does not automatically create a compensation multiplier. Online calculators cannot evaluate disputed vessel conditions, medical opinions, or your ability to return to work.
• Maritime injury cases are commonly handled on a contingency-fee basis, and our firm operates on a contingency-only basis. 
• During a consultation, ask for written terms explaining the fee, who advances case expenses, and how expenses and other deductions affect your net recovery.
• An individualized review is more useful than a generalized payout estimate. 

This article provides general legal information, not advice about the value or recoverability of your particular losses.

Contact The Shlosman Law Firm to Discuss Your Case

A supported Jones Act claim accounts for your present losses and future needs, with evidence for each. Gather your accident report, medical records, and pay information so an attorney can assess the claim and identify what still needs investigation.

Contact The Shlosman Law Firm at (504) 826-9427 or visit the contact page to schedule a consultation about your maritime injury. 

Located in New Orleans and serving workers throughout the Gulf Coast, our firm evaluates serious cases carefully and prepares accepted claims for trial.