Releases and Waivers of Liability
Suppose you own a fishing charter business and you want to save money on insurance. Can your clients waive the right to make a claim against you, thus avoiding the need for insurance? Maine law allows people to sign away their right to sue for personal injury. There...
The Right to a Jury Trial for Maine Fishermen
There is presently (as of March 2026) pending before the Law Court of Maine an important case for all commercial fishermen. It was brought by yours truly, on behalf of a lobsterman cited for lobster violations.As is usual now, the Maine Department of Marine Resources...
The Fisherman’s Right to a Jury Trial
On behalf of a client, I have an important appeal pending before Maine's Law Court. Many of you know that since 2017 lobstermen facing a license suspension have been denied a jury trial - their cases are tried before an administrative law judge, in a ridiculously...
Bringing a Jones Act Case (For Lawyers)
The remedies available to an injured seaman are three: so-called Jones Act negligence, the common law tort of Unseaworthiness, and Maintenance and Cure, the recovering seaman’s ancient right to a stipend and medical care. The Jones Act and Unseaworthiness each have...
Death on the High Seas – 2023
When a person is killed on the “high seas” due to a wrongful act, federal law provides a remedy in the Death on the High Seas Act, 46 U.S.C. §30302. “High seas” is generally defined as beyond the territorial waters of any of the fifty states, that is, 12 miles or more...
The Jones Act Plaintiff (For Lawyers)
The remedies available to an injured seaman are three: so-called Jones Act negligence, the common law tort of Unseaworthiness, and Maintenance and Cure, the recovering seaman’s ancient right to a stipend and medical care. Each has low hurdles to establishing...
Schooner Accidents
An injury aboard a commercial schooner is subject to the admiralty law of maritime personal injuries. That means whether the ship (or owner) is liable for the injury depends in large part on the status of the injured person. Was the injured person a paid crewmember,...
Covid and the Jones Act
A seaman covered by the Jones Act contracts Covid from another crewmember and suffers long term illness (long Covid). Is the ship liable to the sailor, under either the Jones Act or the Unseaworthiness doctrine? Here’s a brief recap of the remedies available to an...
Homeowner’s insurance policies and marine claims
Recently a client came to me with a real problem. Driving his 19 foot center console powerboat, he had left the helm unattended for a few moments. The boat veered and struck a moored classic sailing yacht, damaging the varnished cockpit coaming and the toerail. The...
A Bad Way to Lose a Case
Suppose you were hurt in a shipboard or fishing boat accident and have a Jones Act (or Unseaworthiness) claim. You message your girlfriend from the hospital and tell her all about it – there’s a long thread of detailed messages, you telling what happened, maybe saying...