Find a dependable Houston Maritime Lawyer for the best results

Laws are complicated; that is just a simple fact. Few people can open law books and know what they are looking at, but a Houston maritime lawyer can. This is someone who has specialized knowledge in the laws designed to protect anyone who has been injured while working on a commercial vessel.

Maritime laws were created because the work that is done on commercial vessels can be extremely dangerous, and many employers were not providing compensation to an appropriate degree. However, that is a oversimplification of what the laws cover, and it takes the expertise of a trained Houston maritime lawyer to truly recognize when a legal claim exists.

If you are someone who has been injured in an offshore or maritime accident, and you feel that you have a case, you must get in touch with a reliable Houston maritime lawyer. If you are the family of someone killed in an accident of this kind, you also have the right to pursue compensation. The first step is to contact a qualified expert to review the details.

Fortunately, Kirkendall Dwyer LLP is a firm with this kind of experience and expertise. Their legal team is familiar with all facets of maritime law and you can work with an attorney at the firm to determine if you have a legal claim for compensation. It won’t matter if you are in recovery, permanently disabled, or the survivors of someone lost to an accident, the team at Kirkendall Dwyer LLP will help you to make any legal claims.

It is bad enough to have been injured, or left behind after a serious incident, and that is why you should hire a dependable attorney to help you navigate the complex maritime laws put in place to protect you.

Feb 19, 2014

Consult with an offshore injury attorney today

If you were injured in an offshore accident or while working aboard a seagoing vessel, the Jones Act applies to you. This is a set of laws designed to provide workers with legal rights meant to ensure their livelihood and their health. The laws apply to the families of those injured or killed while doing their work as well. However, you will need the expertise of an offshore injury attorney to determine if you can make a claim or not.

Why is an offshore injury attorney needed? Can’t you just review the facts on your own? Not really. Laws are complicated things and when you read law books it is unlikely that you will be able to explain with great precision or accuracy just what they mean. However, a offshore injury attorney can do just that, and they can also recognize where these laws apply to your claims.

If you are wondering whether you, or your employer, should be paying for the rehabilitation that is the result of an accident, it is time to contact an expert. Unfortunately, few claims are so simple and many people will agree to settlements that are not adequate to their legal rights or to their needs. This is why it is important to speak with a legal expert as soon as possible after an accident has occurred.

The professionals at Kirkendall Dwyer LLP are available for consultations and will review all of the details of a case. They will then counsel their clients as to the best path to follow. Not all cases are going to be provable, and the team at Kirkendall Dwyer LLP will be up front with those who are unlikely to enjoy a positive outcome. However, if there is legal right to claim compensation, the team will dedicate themselves to getting their client what is due to them under the terms of the law.

Feb 18, 2014

Do not wait to contact a Maritime Injury Attorney

We all know the phrase: “time is of the essence”. It is something that applies to lots of things, but it is particularly true if you are someone injured in a maritime accident. This is because you may have a legal case to pursue, but only if you are in possession of all of the “facts” relating to the incident.

Fortunately, you can hire a maritime injury attorney to review the facts and even gather further data to create the most accurate portrait of the incident. Your maritime injury attorney can also help you to determine if you have a valid claim under established maritime law. Of course, the primary determinant in a claim is whether there was negligence at work in the incident. If so, then your maritime injury attorney will advise you of your options.

Consider that even your family will benefit from consulting with such an attorney if you are killed or grievously injured in such an accident. However, you need to know just where to go and who to consult. Fortunately, there is Kirkendall Dwyer LLP. This firm has expertise in maritime law cases and offers a team of experts who will advise and guide you in the right direction.

The team at Kirkendall Dwyer LLP will meet with you or your family and review just what happened. If they recognize a viable case, they can then work with you and your family to pursue any and all compensation or recompense required by the laws. Whether you need to claim lost wages or you need a much broader range of reparations that might include medical care, benefits, and more, they can help you understand what is possible. The first step is to get in touch with them as soon as possible after an accident.

Feb 2, 2014

Houston Maritime Attorney

A Maritime Injury Attorney Can Clarify Your Options

What should you do if you are working on a seagoing vessel of some sort and a serious accident occurs? If you are injured in the event you may think that the company is going to provide adequate compensation, and even if you succumb to injuries you might feel that the company will compensate your family. However, that is by no means a guarantee, and particularly if negligence is to blame.

This is why you should already have the name of a good maritime injury attorney on hand long before any injuries occur. Why should you take the time to find one before anything bad happens? Generally, it is due to two reasons: the first is that time is truly of the essence in gathering information needed, and the second is that the information needed has to do with negligence, which is often hard to prove.

Why does negligence come into the equation? Maritime law stipulates a lot of things, and your maritime injury attorney has to review the terms of your claim to see if you are entitled to legal coverage. If they decide that you do indeed have a provable case, they will need to get the evidence necessary to prove that negligence is to blame.

This is something that is best done as soon as possible following the accident, and that is why you want the name and number of a reliable maritime injury attorney on hand at all times. Additionally, you want your family to know what to do if you are grievously injured or killed in an incident, and that contact number will prove invaluable to them.

Kirkendall Dwyer LLP can provide you or your family with the guidance they need, and they can then represent them throughout the proceedings. The key is to ensure that the contact details for Kirkendall Dwyer LLP are noted and available to you and your family.

Jan 22, 2014

Importance of Hiring Houston Maritime Attorney

Events like the Audacious Sinking Show Why a Texas Maritime Attorney is So Important

It was over a year ago that six crew members of the fishing vessel Audacious had to be airlifted from the freezing waters of the North Sea. Their location was 40 miles off the coast of Aberdeen.

The cause of the accident was determined by the Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) to be flooding in the engine room, which eventually overwhelmed the pump. Their best guess was that the culprit was the cooling system which likely didn’t engage properly.

Unfortunately, human error may have played a role, as well. When the issue became an emergency, the alarm meant to sound in the wheelhouse went off just as it should have, but the wheelhouse was left unmanned for an unspecified period of time.

Now, 16 months later, MAIB has made recommendations for other vessels in order to avoid a similar situation.

That MAIB recommends the wheelhouse be continuously manned on ships going forward should come as no surprise. However, they also advised that the owners of the Audacious make certain that training and necessary inspections are current. Finally, they recommended the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) also review its own inspection procedures.

Everyone aboard the Audacious is lucky to be alive, but this is a good example of why a Texas maritime attorney is so essential for maritime workers in the area. What started out as a freak accident was exacerbated by a potential error by one of the six workers aboard. By consulting with a Texas maritime attorney like the ones from Kirkendall Dwyer LLP, workers in a similar situation would know whether or not they had a right to compensation.

The Jones Act allows for maritime workers to hold their employer responsible if a coworker’s negligence results in their injury. Having a Texas maritime attorney at your call can be essential to your future wellbeing in a situation like this.

Jan 13, 2014

Ship Sinking? Crew Members Should Call A Houston Jones Act Lawyer

For maritime workers, there is no simple task. Every objective they have is connected to the lives of everyone else onboard. Of course, this works both ways. More often than not, a maritime worker is put in jeopardy because of the actions of their fellow crewmembers or even their employer. These events serve to highlight the value of a Jones Act lawyer in Houston.

One such case happened recently off the coast of the Solomon Islands. On December 18^th, a ferry left port to transport 390 people over the water. The problem? The Francis Gerena was only licensed to carry 80. It didn’t take long for the added weight to take effect. When the ferry’s pump failed, the ship began sinking.

At this time, all we know is the ferry was carrying far too many people and hadn’t been cleared to leave the harbor. But someone made a decision and as a result nearly 400 people were put at risk. Thankfully, everyone survived.

A qualified Jones Act lawyer in Houston would look at a situation like this and know their client was due for compensation if they had been injured. If the captain of the ferry made the decision to leave port, the Jones Act demands that crewmembers not be held responsible for others’ negligence. Had the pump failed for some other reason, a Jones Act lawyer in Houston would look to see if the owner of the ship was responsible for operating the vessel without proper equipment onboard.

In any case, maritime workers must have proper representation if they hope to get what they’re due under the Jones Act. A law firm like Kirkendall Dwyer LLP is a great option for maritime workers in Houston. While every incident is different, they can provide the kind of representation a crew member needs.