If you are a longshoreman or a port worker who has been injured while loading, unloading, repairing or building a ship, we can help you recover under the Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act.

Our maritime attorneys are experienced in the investigation and prosecution of Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act claims before the Department of Labor. We are known for our responsiveness, thorough and hands-on litigation style, investigative and negotiating skills, and our accessibility to our longshoremen clients. We go wherever you need us to be.

The Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act is a federal statute that provides injured longshoremen, such as stevedores and shipbuilders, with medical and compensation benefits. The Longshore Act mandates coverage for longshoremen injured while working on:

• Ports
• Piers
• Wharves
• Docks
• Dry Docks
• Terminals
• Shipyards
• Marine Railways, or
• Other adjoining areas customarily used for the loading,
  unloading, repairing or building a ship.

Specifically, the Longshore Act provides for payment of compensation for disability or death of an employee resulting from an injury occurring upon the navigable waters of the United States used by an employer in loading, unloading, repairing, or building a vessel.

The term “employee” is defined in the Longshore Act as any person engaged in maritime employment, including any longshoreman or other person engaged in longshoring operations, and any harbor worker including a ship repairman, shipbuilder, and shipbreaker.

Under the Longshore Act, workers injured while handling containerized cargo or conventional, noncontainerized forms of cargo are engaged in maritime employment so as to be covered by the Longshore Act if they were engaged in intermediate steps of moving cargo between ship and land transportation. Employees injured while working in capacities directly supporting the loading and unloading of ships are within the maritime employment requirements of the Longshore Act, at least where there was some direct involvement with maritime activities. The Longshore Act is not intended to cover purely clerical workers or other workers employed in or adjacent to marine terminals whose duties do not constitute an integral part of the loading or unloading process or fall within some other traditionally maritime area. The Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act specifically mentions shipbuilding, ship repair, and shipbreaking as maritime employment so that the question becomes one of determining whether particular work comes within the meaning of these terms.

Working at a busy port is dangerous work. Our Admiralty and Maritime attorneys routinely help longshoremen who sustained serious injuries at work, and represent stevedores and other Longshoremen injured at Port of Miami, Jacksonville, Fort Lauderdale – Port Everglades, Port Canaveral, and all ports in Florida, Georgia, Alabama, South Carolina, North Carolina and throughout the United States who have sustained injuries such as:

• Back Injuries
• Herniated Disc Injuries
• Spinal Cord Injuries
• Neck Injuries
• Shoulder Injuries
• Catastrophic Injuries
• Amputations
• Crush Injuries
• Chemical Injuries
• Brain Injuries
• Bone Fractures
• Hearing and Vision Loss
• Burns
• Injuries from Repetitive Use
• Aggravation of Previous Injuries
• Wrongful or Accidental Death
• Asbestos related injuries, such as Mesothelioma

To speak with one of our Longshore attorneys today call 800-940-8048. If you would like us to contact you, please contact Grossman Attorneys.   Our attorneys never charge a fee for consultations and are available at night and on the weekends.