Miami, Florida Defective Marine Equipment Attorney

Employment on the seas and navigable waterways can be dangerous. Even if everyone does their jobs and the ship is well maintained, accidents and injuries aboard marine vessels can still occur.

Oftentimes these incidents are the result of faulty, poorly maintained or improperly used equipment. When an injury to a sailor or crew member occurs, it can be the responsibility of the employer, the manufacturer of the equipment, or both.

Florida Maritime Law attorney Robert Gross, P.A. represents seamen who are injured in work-related accidents involving defective equipment. Generally, employees on boats and ships that operate in navigable waters are covered under the Jones Act. The Jones Act requires the employers of crew members who spend at least 30% of their time at sea to recover damages if their negligence causes an injury. General maritime law provides that ship owners and operators are strickly responsible for injuries to seaman due to unseaworthy or malfunctioning equipment aboard the ship.

There is a presumption among employees that the equipment that they are issued or trained to operate is functions properly and is well-maintained. However, this is not always the case. Most machinery, for instance, has to be periodically serviced by an expert who's certified to work on that particular piece of equipment. Oftentimes, the boat or ship will employ an engineer or mechanic to perform this function. However, sometimes the person responsible will have other duties that prevents him or her from adhering to the maintenance schedule. Or maybe that person is under-qualified to do his or her job. In the best case, the machine stops functioning until it's fixed. In the worst, a person who is standing near it is injured.

In some cases, the manufacturer sells and delivers equipment that is already defective. No amount of care or maintenance can remedy this. Defective equipment can be a weak link that causes a chain to snap, or it can be a faulty fuel line that leads to an explosion. In either case, the resulting injuries can be catastrophic.

Attorney Robert Gross has dedicated his practice to admiralty law—with many of his cases being Jones Act and Unseaworthiness claims. If you are an employee who works on a vessel that operates in navigable waters and you feel you have a case, contact him at his Florida law office.

Even when everything is done properly, injuries on the water can still occur and under general maritime law the ship owner or operator is responsible regardless of whether they knew or should have known about the unseaworthy condition. Although when equipment is defective, someone has usually not done their job (whether that's the manufacturer or someone aboard your vessel). If you're injured as a result of defective or inadequately serviced equipment, contact a Miami attorney whose practice focuses on Maritime Law cases.

To schedule an appointment with maritime law attorney Robert Gross, contact his office by calling 305-793-5526 or filling out our quick contact form to the right.