Most injured maritime workers call a lawyer without knowing which law covers them, and that is the correct time to call. The answer determines your deadline, your remedies, and whether a jury ever hears your case, and it is not something an employer should be deciding for you.
The Calderon Law Firm represents seamen, dock workers, shipyard hands, and offshore crew across the Houston Ship Channel and the Gulf. Reach a Houston maritime injury lawyer at (346) 999-5673, any hour.
Jose Calderon founded this firm to represent the people who keep the port running, and our maritime practice is built around getting the classification right before anything gets filed.
Which Maritime Law Applies to Your Injury?
Three federal frameworks cover most Houston maritime injuries, and which one applies depends on your relationship to a vessel rather than on where you were hurt. The table below is how we triage a new call.
| If you are | The law is usually | Filing deadline |
| Crew assigned to a vessel in navigation | The Jones Act, a negligence lawsuit | About three years |
| A dock, terminal, or shipyard worker | The LHWCA, a federal benefits claim | One year, notice in 30 days |
| A worker on a fixed platform on the shelf | LHWCA benefits through OCSLA | One year, notice in 30 days |
| A passenger or a non-maritime worker | General maritime or Texas law | Often two years |
Injured seamen may pursue Jones Act remedies, including the right to sue the employer directly. Dock and harbor workers are covered by the LHWCA, which pays benefits without requiring proof of fault but does not compensate pain or mental anguish.
Mixed assignments are where the disputes happen. A hand who splits time between a barge, a yard, and a terminal may fall on either side depending on what the timekeeping records show, which is why we pull those records before advising anyone.
Why Gulf Coast Maritime Workers Choose The Calderon Law Firm
We handle maritime files in Houston, with the same team from intake through resolution. Nothing gets routed to a national call center that will pass your case along to a firm you never spoke to.
Jose Calderon is a Houston native and a first-generation son of Mexican immigrants, fluent in Spanish, who worked inside several large Texas injury practices before opening his own.
Best Lawyers included the firm on its Ones to Watch list for 2027.
What that produces on a maritime file:
- Classification first. Status gets documented in the first weeks with employment records, not argued at a deposition eighteen months later.
- Independent medical care. We help clients get out of the company clinic and in front of a physician of their own choosing, which changes the record the case is built on.
- Bilingual handling end to end. Port and towing crews are bilingual, and so is every stage of our file management and correspondence.
- Preparation as leverage. Jose has argued before the Texas Tenth Court of Appeals in a live session, and cases resolve better when the other side believes the file is trial-ready.
Recognitions describe how a firm works. They do not predict the outcome of any particular case.
What Kinds of Maritime Worksites Do These Cases Come From?
The worksite matters legally because it affects both the statute and who else may be liable beyond your employer.
Vessels under way and in tow
Towboats, barges, offshore supply vessels, crew boats, and tankers generate most seaman claims. Barge and inland waterway accidents in Houston frequently involve several companies at once, since the towing operator, barge owner, fleeting facility, and cargo owner may each carry separate responsibility.
Terminals, wharves, and container yards
Loading and unloading work sits squarely under the LHWCA. These cases often support a second lawsuit against a vessel owner when the ship's condition or crew contributed to the injury.
Shipyards and repair facilities
Ship repairers and shipbuilders are covered maritime employees even though most of their work happens from shore. Repair cases commonly involve confined space, hot work, and staging hazards, and often a third-party contractor rather than the direct employer.
Offshore platforms and drilling units
Whether a platform worker is a seaman depends on whether the structure is a vessel. Mobile drilling units usually are, which brings those crews under 46 U.S.C. Section 30104. Fixed platforms usually are not, which routes those claims through OCSLA instead.
What Makes a Maritime Claim Different From a Texas Injury Claim?
Four differences change how these cases have to be handled from the first week.
Federal law governs, so Texas rules about workers' compensation immunity and the two-year deadline often do not apply. Deadlines vary by statute rather than by injury, and the shortest one in this area is thirty days.
Your employer usually controls the evidence. Vessel logs, engine data, crew certifications, staffing records, and safety meeting sign-in sheets all live inside the company, and most of it operates on a retention schedule nobody outside sees.
Company medical care is standard in this industry. A clinic paid by the employer produces a record oriented toward returning you to duty, and that record follows the case.
Statements get taken early. Requests arrive within days, often before an injured worker has been told how those answers will be read at a deposition years later. There is generally no obligation to give one before speaking with a lawyer.
Not sure which law covers you? Call (346) 999-5673.
What Happens in the First Month of Your Case?
Maritime files are front-loaded because offshore and waterfront evidence has a short life.
- Preservation letters go out to the employer, the vessel owner, and any terminal or contractor involved, demanding retention of logs, maintenance records, permits, and personnel files.
- Status documentation begins with crew change sheets, dispatch logs, payroll codes, and timekeeping data covering the year before the injury.
- Medical independence gets arranged, along with any dispute over maintenance and cure or authorized LHWCA treatment.
- Agency records are requested, including any Coast Guard marine casualty report or Department of Labor filing on the incident.
- Claim strategy is set once we know the classification, so the right statute is used and every party with a policy is pursued rather than only the easiest one.
What Can You Recover in a Houston Maritime Injury Claim?
Recovery depends on which framework applies, and the gap between them is wide.
Seamen bringing Jones Act and unseaworthiness claims may pursue full damages: past and future lost earnings, medical care, physical pain, mental anguish, and physical impairment. Maintenance and cure runs alongside those claims and is owed regardless of fault.
LHWCA claimants receive medical treatment and roughly two-thirds of average weekly wage, with nothing for pain or mental anguish. A separate lawsuit against a vessel owner or another third party is what closes that gap in serious cases.
Earning capacity is usually the largest number either way. Maritime pay includes hitch premiums, overtime, and per diem that a base wage summary does not capture, and an insurer valuing a claim from a W-2 alone will undercount it substantially. We reconstruct actual earnings across several years so the wage loss reflects what the work really paid.
Fatal cases follow their own rules. Which statute governs a maritime death depends on the worker's status and on how far from shore it happened, and the damages available differ meaningfully among the options.
What Evidence Do These Cases Turn On?
Maritime files are won with documents that live inside the company, which is why the first letters we send are preservation demands rather than settlement demands.
- Voyage, engine room, and wheelhouse logs, which rotate or get overwritten on a schedule
- Crew certifications and training records, which show whether the vessel was properly manned
- Maintenance and repair histories for the specific piece of gear that failed
- Safety meeting sign-in sheets and job hazard analyses from the day of the injury
- Weather, tide, and current data for the exact hour
- Timekeeping and crew change records, which decide the status question
When a company destroys or loses evidence after receiving a written preservation demand, that failure becomes part of the case. It is one of the few advantages an injured worker gets early, and it only exists if someone sends the letter.
FAQ for Houston Maritime Injury Lawyers
Can I choose my own doctor in a maritime case?
Usually yes, though the mechanism differs by statute. Seamen generally have the right to select a treating physician for cure purposes. LHWCA claimants may choose a physician subject to Department of Labor authorization. Employers frequently imply that the company clinic is the only option, and that is worth checking before your next appointment, because continuing there tends to produce a record built around an early return to work.
Does it matter that my injury happened outside Texas?
Often not. Maritime claims may frequently be brought where the employer does business, and most Gulf and inland operators have a substantial Houston presence. Venue affects both the pace and the value of a case, so it is one of the first things we evaluate rather than an afterthought.
What if my employer says I am an independent contractor?
Labels do not control. Seaman status and LHWCA coverage both turn on the actual work performed and the relationship to a vessel, not on how a company classifies you for tax purposes. Workers paid on a 1099 while being scheduled, supervised, and equipped like employees frequently qualify for coverage the employer denies.
Can my family bring a claim if a maritime worker died?
Yes, and the applicable law depends on where the death occurred and the worker's status. Remedies may arise under the Jones Act, general maritime law, the Death on the High Seas Act for deaths beyond three nautical miles from shore, or the LHWCA survivors' provisions. What is recoverable differs meaningfully among them, so families benefit from advice before signing anything an employer presents.
What if I already gave a recorded statement?
It is not fatal. Statements get explained, clarified, and put in context all the time, and an early account given in pain or on medication carries less weight than companies pretend. What matters is getting a copy of what you said and building the rest of the record properly around it. Bring us the claim number and we will request the recording.
How are your fees handled?
We work on a contingency fee, which means our fee comes out of a recovery and only if there is one. Consultations are free, case expenses are explained in writing before you sign, and we tell you plainly when we do not think a claim is worth pursuing.
How Are These Cases Paid For?
We work on a contingency fee, so our fee comes out of a recovery and only if there is one. Case expenses, including independent inspections and record retrieval, are advanced by the firm.
Maritime cases carry higher costs than an ordinary injury file because they often require marine engineers, vocational specialists, and economists. We explain those expenses in writing before you sign anything, and we do not take a case we do not believe we can move forward.
The Vessel Will Not Be Here Next Month
Boats get sold, renamed, and reflagged. Crews scatter to other companies by the next hitch. Terminals reconfigure, equipment gets repaired, and the daily reports that describe what happened move into a system you have no access to.
Meanwhile the file your employer started the day you were hurt has been growing without you in the room. Building your own version of that record costs nothing to begin and no fee unless we recover for you.
Call The Calderon Law Firm at (346) 999-5673 or request a case review online. Someone answers around the clock, in English or Spanish.