Скачать или смотреть Commercial Divers' Qualification and Status as Jones Act Seamen | BoatLaw, LLP

BoatLaw, LLP partner Nick Neidzwski dives deeper into the subject of commercial divers' qualification and status as Jones Act seamen.

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Transcription:
"commercial divers often qualify as Jones act Seaman who are entitled to make a Jones act negligence claim an unseaworthiness claim and a claim for maintenance and cure your three major causes of action for Jones act Seaman in many commercial diving cases seamen status is contested a vessel owner may try to argue that the commercial diver that was injured does not qualify as a Jones act Seaman there are two main elements for Seamans status under the Jones Act first the worker must have contributed to the vessel's mission or function and secondly the worker must have a substantial connection to the vessel in terms of both nature and duration some vessel owners will argue that commercial divers do not meet the test of duration necessary to become a Jones act Seaman meaning that they contest that the commercial diver had a connection that was substantial in duration to a vessel and navigation or to a group of vessels in navigation for commercial divers we look at sometimes years and years of their time records to assess whether they spent more than 30 percent or 30 percent at least of their time on a vessel in navigable water and that entails sometimes looking through time record after time record to look at their time and assess whether eight hours of their day or ten hours of their day or 12 hours of their day was spent on a vessel in navigable water if the workers time is under 30 percent they may not meet the duration test under the second element for seamen status in assessing seamen status for commercial divers the very definition of a vessel Also may come into play sometimes we see argument that a barge or a wharf boat that a commercial diver was diving from was not a vessel and therefore that time award that Wharf boat or barge does not count towards the 30 percent test we have experience and are prepared to analyze in great detail whether a commercial diver qualifies as a Jones act Seaman or if not as a longshoreman who also has claims to make against the vessel owner and has also claims to make against third parties under General maritime law"


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