Jones Act (maritime / boating accidents)/ FELA (railroad / train accidents)

BIREN/KATZMAN's Attorneys Successfully Handle Jones Act And FELA Cases For Injured Maritime and Railroad Workers And Persons Serriously Injured Or Killed In Boating And Train Accidents

The Maritime and Railroad industries are instrumental to our country's commerce. Maritime and Railroad work can be incredibly dangerous. Accordingly, in an effort to protect Maritime and Railroad workers and ensure that commerce is not interrupted, Congress passed special laws to protect these workers - respectively the Jones Act and the Federal Employer's Liability Act (FELA). These laws allow employees to sue their employers for injuries received on the job if they are caused by their employer's negligence or the unseaworthy condition of boats or vessels.

Injuries to Maritime and Railroad workers and boating and train accidents that cause serious / catastrophic personal injuries can present many complex issues. If you are a Maritime or Railroad worker who has been injured o the job or you've been seriously injured in a boating or train accident, you should contact the law office of BIREN/KATZMAN for a free consultation

Our attorneys have developed handling techniques designed to maximize our clients' recoveries in Jones Act and FELA cases. For example:

• Liability Disputes - BIREN/KATZMAN has proven liability in cases where, on first blush, it appeared that the defendant ship owner or railroad might not have done anything to cause the injury to their employee and/or the accident in which our client was injured. We accomplished this by extraordinarily thorough investigation, complex accident reconstructions with the best experts and creative evaluations of what went wrong to cause our client to be injured.
  
  
• Products Liability - Sometimes the best claim is not against the shipping company or railroad, but rather against the manufacturer of a defective component of the vessel or train. These claims can involve contentions that the defective product rendered the boat or train to be unsafe or unseaworthy.
  
  
• Maximizing Damages - It isn't enough to establish liability, the outcome of a client's case also depends on proving the full extent of damages. BIREN/KATZMAN knows how to find the best medical experts who can not only diagnose and treat the most sophisticated injuries, but just as importantly can effectively communicate their findings. To maximize damages, it takes more than proving the injury. We work with economists (to establish the monetary losses of our clients), vocational rehabilitationists (to establish the impact of the injury on the client's earnings capacity), life care planners (to establish future care needs and the costs involved) and a host of other types of damage experts, all geared to maximizing our client's recoveries. Use of experts and creativity is especially important to demonstrate the full measure of damages in wrongful death cases.
  
  
• Team Approach / Principal Lawyer Handling - BIREN/KATZMAN is unique in that every case accepted by the firm is handled from start to finish by the firm's principals - Matthew B.F. Biren and Marc J. Katzman Every case is approached on a team basis where every member of the firm works on the case. This team approach involving hands-on involvement of the principal lawyers is much different than how most firms work, where the handling is basically done by an associate and the senion lawyers only get involved, if at all, in the later stages of the case. Our clients profit from this approach because they not only get the benefit of our senior lawyers' extensive experience and knowledge, but they also get the input from many people, which substantially increases the creative ideas generated about handling, which translates to better results.

Our lawyers at BIREN/KATZMAN Trial Lawyers have achieved extraordinary recoveries for injured seaman and boaters in a variety of cases, including:

• A Cabin Attendant for Catalina Express was awarded more than $1 million when she suffered injury to her back in two incidents - one when she jumped from the boat to the dock and the second when she sat on an unsecured hatch that was slamming up and down. She also was awarded damages to her wrists and shoulder resulting from continuing micro traumas caused by an ergonomically unsafe working condition; a precedent setting finding.
  
  
• A young man driving a jet ski type device in Lake Castaic recovered more than $1 million for serious injuries he sustained when struck by a pleasure boat. Not only did he recover from the negligent boat operator, but also on products liability claims from the manufacturers of the jet ski type device and the pleasure boat.

BIREN/KATZMAN has also obtained substantial recoveries for Railroad workers and clients injured while riding trains. For example:

• The families of two track maintenance workers were paid substantial wrongful death damages in a confidential settlement. Even though the workers had violated company rules by walking on the track as they exited their work site, BIREN/KATZMAN developed evidence that the primary cause of the accident was the employer's failure to enforce its own safety rules.
  
  
• An elderly lady riding the train for the first time in her life was paid a settlement of $500,000 for a serious leg injury she sustained when the train lurched as it pulled into the station. BIREN/KATZMAN proved that the train was unsafe because there was no stantion for the passenger to hold onto as she stood to prepare to depart.

Serious maritime or railroad accidents often lead to catastrophic injuries, such as traumatic brain injuries or spinal cord injuries like paraplegia, quadriplegia or damaged cervical or lumbar discs. Some injuries are severe and immediately apparent, while others are more subtle and can only be diagnosed by specialists who are experienced in diagnosing traumatic injuries. BIREN/KATZMAN understands traumatic injuries and knows the best medical specialists to help diagnose and treat our client's injuries, as well as maximize their recoveries.

Contact the office of BIREN/KATZMAN to schedule a free initial consultation to review your motor vehicle accident injury case. Your consultation is free. Your recovery could begin today.

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