Boating Accidents: Maintenance and Cure

Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C.

If you are injured while working on a ship, you might feel trapped. You have bills that need to be paid, including medical bills from your injury. Your family still depends on you for support, but you cannot work. You know that you have rights in the wake of an accident, but may not be sure how to get what you're owed. As a mariner, you are entitled to maintenance and cure benefits following your boating accident, benefits that can take care of all or most of your bills during your recovery.

The Maritime law attorneys at Chaikin, Sherman, Cammarata, & Siegel, P.C. are prepared to stand up for your rights and get you the full amount of benefits owed to you under the law. Please contact us today to learn how we can help you during this difficult time.

Maintenance and Cure Benefits

Maintenance and cure are sometimes referred to as a mariner's "sacred right," and have been a part of naval tradition since time immemorial. This right was interpreted as being implicit in all seamen's contracts by the Supreme Court in 1903, and has since then been elaborated in great detail. The basic right remains simple: a mariner is entitled to support and medical treatment following a shipboard accident.

Maintenance refers to a daily stipend that is intended to cover your living expenses until you reach what is known as maximum medical recovery. Maintenance benefits cover reasonable expenses for food and shelter, including utilities and some necessary incidentals.

Cure benefits cover all expenses that are associated with curing your injury. This includes:

• Medical bills, including doctors, specialists, and all diagnostic tests
• Prescriptions
• Physical therapy
• At-home health care
• Reasonable transportation to and from medical appointments

Anything that contributes to you achieving maximum medical recovery is included in your cure benefits.

No Need to Prove Negligence

Maintenance and cure benefits are similar to Workers' Compensation benefits because you do not have to prove that your employer was negligent to be eligible for benefits. When an employer brings you on to work on his vessel, he automatically agrees to take care of you if you are injured.

Different from Workers' Compensation

Maintenance and cure benefits are different from Workers' Compensation in two very important ways. First, a mariner is entitled to select his or her own doctor, rather than having to work with a doctor chosen by the employer or the employer's insurance company, as is often the case for Workers' Compensation.

Second, Workers' Compensation prevents an injured worker from filing a personal injury lawsuit, but a mariner can always seek to recover additional damages based on an employer's negligence. This right is guaranteed under the Jones Act, and we are prepared to help you pursue claims of this type as well.

If you are a mariner injured in a boating accident, please contact the Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C. personal injury lawyers at Chaikin, Sherman, Cammarata, & Siegel, P.C. today for a free case evaluation.

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