| What Are The Types Of Damages Allowed Under The Jones Act? |
| Written by Timothy Young |
| Wednesday, 14 October 2009 17:20 |
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There is a federal statute known as the Jones Act which allows employees to file lawsuits directly against their employers. In order to qualify under the Jones Act, the employee must be a "seaman" which generally means that the employee worked aboard a vessel. Once the employee is determined to have qualified under the Jones Act, he can then file suit to collect several different types of damages from his employer.
There is a federal statute known as the Jones Act which allows employees to file lawsuits directly against their employers. In order to qualify under the Jones Act, the employee must be a "seaman" which generally means that the employee worked aboard a vessel. Once the employee is determined to have qualified under the Jones Act, he can then file suit to collect several different types of damages from his employer. Before the specific types of damages are discussed, it is important to first understand two important points about the Jones Act. The Jones Act is a fault-based statute which means that an injured employee must prove that his employer was at fault, to some degree, before the employee can collect any type of damages. If the Jones Act employer did not cause or contribute in any way to the employee's injury, then the Jones Act does not allow the injured seaman to recover any money from his employer. Also, the Jones Act is separate from general maritime law of maintenance and cure. An injured seaman has rights under general maritime law to collect "maintenance and cure" separate and apart from any suit which he may pursue under the Jones Act for negligence on the part of his employer. An injured employee can collect general damages including pain and suffering under the Jones Act. These damages are only allowed under the Jones Act and not allowed under the Longshore Act or any state workers' compensation statute. Generally there is no scale or schedule which states the amount of money which can be collected for certain amounts of pain and/or suffering. The amount to be awarded for general damages including pain and suffering is usually left to the trier of fact whether it is a jury or a judge. However, typically courts of appeal will lower or reverse any pain and suffering awards which they believe are excessive. An injured seaman can also collect lost wages under the Jones Act. This includes past as well as future lost wages which may be suffered for many years following the employee's injury. Generally the amount of lost wages suffered by the employee would be calculated by determining the rate of pay at the time of the employee's injury compared to the amount that the employee can earn following his injury. Lost wages can be significant if the employee was earning significant wages at the time of his injury and, following his injury, he is restricted from returning to maritime work. Injured seamen can also collect their past and future medical expenses under the Jones Act. In order to collect medical expenses, the injured employee must show that the medical expenses are "reasonable and necessary" and directly related to his injury. To collect medical expenses the injured seaman must present expert medical testimony concerning the need for the medical treatment as well as the actual cost of the medical treatment. Sometimes it is very difficult to collect medical expenses fro procedures or treatment which "may" or "possibly" be necessary in the future. Instead, courts generally limit medical expenses to the amount of medical treatment which will "more likely than not" be needed in the future. The Jones Act also allows an injured seaman to collect for the value of the fringe benefits which he may lose due to his injury. These fringe benefits typically include loss of health care benefits, disability benefits, retirement benefits and other employer-provided benefits to the employee prior to his injury. In order to collect loss of fringe benefits usually it requires an expert economist to determine the exact value of the loss of fringe benefits since this amount will need to be calculated into the future. The Jones Act even counts the loss of meals which may have been provided to the injured seaman while he was employed! The Jones Act is a very special federal statute since it allows injured seamen to file suit for all of the above damages. Normally work-related injuries fall under very restrictive "compensation statues" which prevent the employee from collecting pain and suffering, loss of fringe benefits and the full value of his loss of wages. The Jones Act does not work in such a fashion and for this reason most injured seamen receive much more recovery under the Jones Act than they would under a workers' compensation statute. |