If you were injured on a crewboat, then the Jones Act will apply to your claim. In fact, this law will apply to the claim of any marine worker injured on almost any type of vessel and most offshore rigs.
Most lawyers - over 99% of them - are not qualified to handle a Jones Act case. For this reason, you must be very careful in deciding who to hire to handle your Jones Act claim. In this blog post, I will give you some pointers that should help you make this important decision.
Start with lawyers who are "Board Certified." The organizations that govern lawyers in each state (these are called "state bars") have procedures by which lawyers can become "board certified" in a specialty area. In Texas, one available specialty area is Personal Injury Trial Law. Less than 2% of all attorneys in Texas hold this certification. In order to become Board Certified in Personal Injury law in Texas, many rigorous requirements must be met. Most states have board certification requirements that are similar to those in Texas. If you restrict yourself to interviewing Board Certified lawyers, you will be speaking to "the best of the best." Indeed, Board Certification is the only professional recognition expressly recommended by the State Bar of Texas.
Narrow your search to Board Certified attorneys who have a lot of experience handling Jones Act cases. Once you have narrowed your search to lawyers who are Board Certified in Personal Injury Law, further narrow your search to those who regularly handle Jones Act lawsuits. I cannot stress this enough to you: most lawyers have never, and will never, handle a Jones Act case. Do you want to hire a lawyer who has never handled your type of case? Do you want your lawyer to have to "reinvent the wheel" during your entire case because he or she doesn't handle Jones Act cases? You will be much better served by placing your future in the handles of an attorney who specializes in Jones Act claims.
Further narrow your search to lawyers who have a documented history of success in handling injury cases. Lawyers you interview should be able to provide you with a list of their documented successful case results. Without a prior documented history of doing a good job on Jones Act cases, what kind of confidence would you have in your attorney? Prior case results are very important, and you should insist any lawyer provide this to you. If they cannot meet your request, you should look elsewhere.
Get references from the lawyer's prior clients. Want to know what it's like to be a client of any particular lawyer? Ask that lawyer's past clients! Ask the lawyer for a list of written references. If the lawyer cannot provide this to you, then keep looking.
Make sure the lawyer will actually handle your case and not refer it out. Some lawyers will take your Jones Act case, and then refer it out to some other lawyer who will handle your case. Ask attorneys up front if they intend to do this. You are entitled to know whether the attorney you hire will be handling your Jones Act claim. At our law firm, we don't refer out our Jones Act cases - we handle them all ourselves.
In your search for a lawyer, focus your inquiry on the above topics. If you do, odds are you will find the best lawyer for your Jones Act claim.