Commercial Fishing Accidents

Lawyers for Injured Commercial Fishermen

Commercial Fishing is a dangerous job. It attracts only the men and women who are physically and mentally tough enough to handle the high demands of such employment.

At Beard Stacey Trueb & Jacobsen, LLP our maritime injury attorneys know fishermen and their problems. If you are a commercial fisherman who has been injured at sea, please contact a maritime law attorney at our law firm today for a free initial consultation and case evaluation. It costs you nothing to find out if we can help. From our offices in Anchorage and Seattle, we represent injured seamen on a contingency basis. You will pay no attorney fees unless we win money damages for you.

Living and working conditions aboard a commercial fishing boat are far different than working at a shore side desk job or working as salesperson. Not just anyone is capable of working 18 hour shifts for days, and sometimes weeks, at a time in heavy seas that can reach 25 feet in height or more. Fishermen earn high wages, but they are constantly at risk for serious personal injury unless safety precautions are followed. Fishermen must be in excellent physical condition, prepared and ready to act or react instantly in a time of danger, or they will place themselves and their fellow crewmen at risk for injury and possible death. Even minor injuries may preclude a fisherman from safely returning to work at their previous job as a fisherman. There is no safe place aboard a fishing boat for a crewman with a seriously injured hand, a bad back, or a bum knee.

All Maritime Workers — All Vessels

Fishermen, including captains, mates, engineers, cooks, deckhands, processors, and fish factory workers, who are injured aboard commercial fishing vessels are protected and entitled to benefits under the Federal Maritime law and the Jones Act. Benefits and compensation for injured fisherman include payment without proof of fault of all reasonable and necessary medical bills until maximum medical improvement is reached, payment of maintenance, and unearned wages. Additionally, upon proof of negligence or unseaworthiness, an injured fisherman is entitled to payment of past and future lost wages, retraining expenses, compensation for pain and suffering, disability, and disfigurement.

At Beard Stacey Trueb & Jacobsen, our maritime injury lawyers have represented countless injured fishermen, successfully helping them settle their claims. To learn if we can help you, please contact us for a free consultation.

Rarely does a fishing accident case not have some evidentiary problems. Frequent problems and issues that arise in cases involving fisherman are: Preexisting medical problems or prior injuries; lack of tax returns and earning records; child support liens; criminal histories; lack of witnesses; drug and alcohol problems; and immigration problems. Experience is the key to helping injured fisherman with these problems obtain a reasonable and fair settlement of their claims.

High Pay for Hard Work

Working as a fisherman is the life career for many of Beard Stacey Trueb and Jacbosen’s clients. Despite lack of formal education and technical training, many fishermen are capable of earning high crew wages as a commercial fisherman. Many successful seamen may have immigrated from Poland, Mexico, Viet Nam, or other countries. They may speak and read little English. A fisherman’s skill at finding fish, the ability to work long hours, physical strength, practical engineering skills, and abilities as deckhand or processor are the measure of success in the commercial fishing industry. If an injured seaman cannot return to work because of his injuries, it is unlikely he will be able to match his earnings as a fisherman working in a light or medium duty job.

Working as a fisherman may be the best and highest paying employment the crewman can ever expect to find. Fishermen oftentimes have few transferable skills that can be converted into use at shore side employment. An injured seaman left with physical work restrictions may not be able to competitively compete for other shore side employment requiring more education and job experience. If a seaman is injured through negligence of his employer or ship owner, he will be entitled to future lost wages if as a result of his injuries he is no longer able to earn as much as he did prior to his injury. Depending upon the age of the fisherman at the time of his or her injury, lost future wages can be awarded for the fisherman’s full work life expectancy.

Working as fisherman requires physical strength and endurance. No one cares if you graduated from high school or where you went to college. The important qualification is if you can get the job done, and how fast you can do it. Aboard a fishing boat, the owner’s profits may be given a higher priority than a seaman’s safety. Unfortunately, when a crewman is injured onboard ship, most fishing boat owners and employers show little loyalty to their injured crewmen and deckhands. The vessel owners’ insurance companies attempt to pay as little possible in compensation for each claim, oftentimes improperly terminating wage loss, maintenance, and payment of medical bills, prior to a seaman reaching medical stability. The vessel owner's insurance companies employ highly experienced lawyers to represent them. The insurance company’s lawyer’s job is not to see that the injured seaman receives fair compensation, but rather to save the insurance companies as much money as possible by paying as little as possible on Jones Act injury claims.

Frequently insurance companies refer injured seaman to doctors who are known to give medical opinions favorably slanted towards the insurance companies, and stated in such a manner that will limit the injured seaman’s right to further medical care and compensatory damages. The insurance adjuster that is handling the injured fisherman’s claim is being paid by the vessel owner’s insurance company. The insurance adjuster’s job is to save the insurance company money. The insurance companies frequently refuse to authorize treatment, tests, and surgeries, recommended by the injured seaman’s treating doctors. They typically suggest a second opinion by a doctor hired by the insurance company to questions the treating doctor's advice to his patient. The doctors hired by the vessel owner's insurance company may rush a seaman back to work who is not ready, or to a fishing job he will not be able to continue at. At Beard Stacey Trueb & Jacobsen, our maritime law attorneys help fishermen get the medical treatment they deserve and need to fully recover from their injuries.

Fair and unbiased medical assessment of an injured seaman’s injuries and future work restrictions is important to obtaining fair compensation for an injured crewman. Despite their injuries, most of our clients want to return to work as commercial fishermen. Working as a fisherman is a job many of our clients love. They also know they will probably never be able to earn as much working shore side as they have working in the past as a commercial fisherman. Whether you can or cannot return to work as commercial fisherman will depend upon medical evidence about what your future physical restrictions are, and whether or not you can safely do the job without causing further injury to yourself or others. Of course if you have physical restrictions placed upon you by your doctor following your injury, you will probably be entitled to far greater compensation for your fishing accident than if you have no such restrictions. This is why the fishing boat insurance companies oftentimes want you to be examined only by doctors they select.

The attorneys of Beard Stacey Trueb & Jacobsen have handled virtually all kinds of commercial fishing accidents, including the following fisheries:

• Crab boats
• Factory trawlers
• Fish processing vessels
• Draggers
• Mid water and bottom trawlers
• Long liners
• Salmon trollers
• Salmon seiners
• Tuna boats
• Oyster dredges
• Scallop boats
• Clam boats
• Halibut boats
• Gill netters
• Cod boats
• Commercial marlin boats
• Fish tenders
• Urchin boat
• Shrimp boats
• Squid boats

The maritime injury lawyers at Beard Stacey Trueb & Jacobsen concentrate on representing injured seamen. It is what we do. It is all we do. We haven’t handled a few maritime injury cases. We have handle thousands of maritime injury claims, big and small. At Beard Stacey Trueb & Jacobsen, we have the reputation, resources, and experience necessary to litigate against the big fishing companies and their insurance companies, like Lloyds of London. Beard Stacey Trueb & Jacobsen represent fishermen from nearly all 50 States, although most of our maritime injury cases occur in the Bering Sea and the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Alaska, Washington, and Oregon. We have also handled major injury and death claims in New York, New Orleans, California, Samoa, Gulf of Mexico, and the South Pacific.

If you are an injured fisherman, you should look for the best law firm in the country to represent you. Jones Act negligence claims for injured seamen are governed by Federal Maritime law. This means the law governing a case in Alaska, Washington, and Oregon is the very same, or similar to, the laws governing Jones Act negligence claims in other states. By hiring Beard Stacey Trueb & Jacobsen to handle your fishing accident case, you will be getting experience learned through representing thousands of injured fishermen in the Bering Sea. Our reputation as maritime injury lawyers is creating demand for our services on a national basis. Our attorneys are frequently associated by other lawyers because of our experience and knowledge about fishing accident cases. If you have been seriously injured in another state, the lawyers of Beard Stacey Trueb & Jacobsen can handle your case in association with local legal counsel. Our attorney fees will not be any more expensive than less experienced, or non-maritime lawyers, who are located where you may live, or where your accident occurred.

If you have been injured aboard a fishing vessel, contact us for a free consultation about what rights you have, and what compensation you may be entitled to receive. You should have a maritime lawyer on your side when you are making decisions that will impact the remainder of your life.