The crew of a barge subjects themselves to numerous hazards whenever they board the vessel.
Barge work carries a real risk of serious injury.
If you or a loved one has been injured in a barge accident, you may be able to file a personal injury lawsuit against your employer. Inzina Law Injury Attorneys handle maritime claims under the Jones Act and the other federal laws that can apply.
We take barge cases from anywhere in Louisiana. Barge crews call us from the Mississippi and the Atchafalaya, the Intracoastal Waterway and the inland canals and bayous, and from the ports and fleeting areas at Baton Rouge, Morgan City, Intracoastal City, the Port of Iberia, Cameron and Venice. You do not have to be near Lafayette for us to take the case.
Why are barge accidents so dangerous?
Barges are huge, slow to stop and often pushed through narrow, crowded waterways, sometimes loaded with petroleum or other volatile cargo. The crew does heavy physical work on wet decks right next to open water, where one slip can mean going overboard.
A single barge can carry around 1,500 tons of cargo, and one towboat may push many of them lashed together. A standard barge is about 200 feet long, and that size makes a tow hard to maneuver and slow to stop. Oftentimes, the ship’s captain must guide the barge through narrow waterways. These vessels can carry dangerous materials, such as petroleum and other volatile chemicals.
Work on barges can be grueling and dangerous. The workers are performing stressful physical tasks under challenging circumstances. At the same time, the barge owner or operator may be cutting corners to maximize their own profits. When you go to work on a barge, you can only trust the owner will do what is necessary to protect your safety.
What causes barge accidents?
Most barge injuries come from collisions with bridges, docks or other vessels, fires and explosions, chemical exposure, deck hazards that cause falls or overboard accidents, and broken equipment. Many happen near busy ports and under bridges, where a tow has very little room for error.
Barge accidents usually happen near busy ports because that is where the most dangers are present. Ship captains may struggle to deal with the congestion, or they may not be able to navigate conditions. A tow pushing loaded barges through a narrow channel or under a bridge has very little room for error, and a loss of power or a misjudged current can put a barge into a bridge pier, a dock or another vessel. Barge accidents could also happen on the vessel itself. Employees may be injured due to the negligence of the ship’s owner or operator.
Causes of barge accident injuries include:
- Fires and explosions
- Exposure to hazardous chemicals
- Collisions with fixed objects
- Collisions with other barges
- Hazards on the deck (causing slip and falls or overboard accidents)
- Malfunctioning heavy machinery
- Capsizing and sinking
What makes barge accidents even more dangerous is the presence of water. Falling overboard is one of the most common barge accidents and can lead to drowning or hypothermia.
Does the Jones Act cover barge injuries?
Often, yes. If your work has a substantial connection to a vessel in navigation, in both how long you spend aboard and the kind of work you do, you are likely a seaman and can sue your employer for negligence under the Jones Act. Barge and tow crews often qualify even when they don’t think of themselves as sailors. If you don’t qualify, the Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act may cover you instead.
What type of compensation you can pursue depends on the facts and circumstances of your situation. To decide who counts as a seaman, courts often treat roughly 30 percent of working time aboard as a rule of thumb, but it is a guideline rather than a fixed line.
Federal law allows you to sue for negligence, and a negligence claim can cover categories of loss that a workers’ compensation claim does not.
How do you file a claim after a barge accident?
If you are a seaman, you usually can’t collect state workers’ comp or Longshore benefits. Instead you file a lawsuit, which often includes three claims: Jones Act negligence against your employer, unseaworthiness against the vessel owner, and maintenance and cure, which pays basic living expenses and medical care while you recover no matter who was at fault.
Your lawyer would begin the legal process by conducting an investigation of what happened to cause your injury. If you are a seaman, you generally cannot claim state workers’ compensation or Longshore Act benefits, because seamen are excluded from both. What you have instead is a lawsuit, and usually more than one claim inside it: a Jones Act negligence claim against your employer, an unseaworthiness claim against the vessel owner if the vessel, its gear or its crew was not reasonably fit, and maintenance and cure, which covers basic living expenses and medical care while you recover regardless of who was at fault. Your lawyer would begin by gathering evidence that can be used to describe your cause of action in a legal complaint. They would then file it with the court and serve it on the defendant to begin the case.
Your case would proceed just like any other lawsuit, where you would have a lengthy period of pretrial motions and gathering evidence to the discovery process. In many cases, your lawsuit would reach a settlement agreement before it ever went to trial. If the defendant refuses to settle, your lawyer would try your case in court. At Inzina Law Injury Attorneys, we are not afraid to litigate your case if necessary, as our attorneys have spent a significant amount of time in the courtroom.
Speak to a Louisiana Barge Accident Attorney Today
If you or a loved one has been injured in a barge accident, Inzina Law Injury Attorneys can look at what happened and tell you straight whether you have a claim. It is up to you to take the first step, which is calling us to schedule a free initial consultation. You can begin to get legal help by sending us a message through a website or by calling us today at (337) 347-7177.