Maritime & Offshore Injury Law: Complete Guide

Workers and others injured on navigable waters or in connection with maritime and offshore activity are often governed by a distinct body of federal law rather than the ordinary state workers' compensation or negligence rules that apply to most land-based jobs. This hub is a starting point for understanding that body of law -- who it covers, which statutes and doctrines typically apply, and how a maritime or offshore injury claim generally differs from a standard personal injury case. It is general legal information, not legal advice about any specific injury.

The Main Sources of Maritime & Offshore Injury Law

Several distinct federal frameworks can apply to a maritime or offshore injury, often depending on the injured person's job, the location of the accident, and the type of vessel or structure involved:

• The Jones Act (46 U.S.C. § 30104) — gives an injured "seaman" the right to sue their employer for negligence, unlike most land-based employees who are limited to workers' compensation. See our guide to Jones Act & seaman's injury rights.
• General maritime law — a body of federal common law covering doctrines such as unseaworthiness and maintenance and cure, which can apply alongside or instead of the Jones Act. See Jones Act vs. general maritime law and maintenance and cure explained.
• The Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act (LHWCA) (33 U.S.C. § 901 et seq.) — a federal workers' compensation system for maritime workers who are not seamen, such as many longshore and harbor workers injured on or near navigable waters.
• The Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA) (43 U.S.C. § 1331 et seq.) — extends certain federal law, including in many cases the LHWCA, to workers injured on fixed offshore platforms on the Outer Continental Shelf, such as many oil and gas installations.

Which of these frameworks applies -- and sometimes more than one can be relevant to the same injury -- depends heavily on facts like the injured person's job duties and connection to a vessel, where the accident happened, and what kind of structure or vessel was involved. That threshold question is often one of the first things an offshore injury lawyer evaluates.

Who This Area of Law Covers

Maritime and offshore injury law can potentially apply to commercial vessel crew members, offshore oil and gas workers, dockworkers and longshore workers, harbor workers, and others whose work has a substantial connection to navigable waters or traditional maritime activity. Guides throughout this hub address specific roles and accident types in more depth, including offshore drilling and oil rig injuries and region-specific guidance for the Gulf Coast.

How These Claims Differ From a Typical Injury Case

Maritime and offshore injury claims often follow different rules than a standard car accident or slip-and-fall case: different deadlines, different available benefits (such as maintenance and cure), different standards of liability, and, in some cases, different courts. Our guides on how offshore settlements are calculated, common causes of offshore accidents, and applicable filing deadlines go into these differences in more detail.

Explore This Hub

The guides below cover offshore and maritime injury lawyers, oil rig accidents, Jones Act claims, and the process and deadlines involved in these cases. For related passenger-vessel and cruise ship injury topics, see the Cruise Ship & Passenger Vessel Accidents hub. For general personal injury topics that apply across practice areas -- contingency fees, choosing a lawyer, and the statute of limitations generally -- see What Is a Personal Injury Lawyer? and the related guides linked from it.

This page provides general legal information about maritime and offshore injury law and does not constitute legal advice for any specific situation. Laws and their application vary by jurisdiction and by the specific facts involved.