Matthew Shaffer News

Houston-based maritime law firm Schechter, McElwee, Shaffer & Harris recently obtained what is believed to be one of the largest settlements paid by the United States to a Jones Act seaman. According to court documents, their client, a 58-year-old seaman was working aboard the S.S. Cape Jacob, a military supply ship owned by the United States and operated by private contractor Matson Navigation, Inc.The vessel was docking in the port of Jangu, South Korea, on Aug. 2, 2010, when the man alleged that he was ordered to secure mooring lines to the dock.

A recent ruling by the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals clears the way for seaman to recover punitive damages in unseaworthiness claims, according to Jones Act attorney Matthew Shaffer. In the facts of the case, McBride v. Estis Well Serv., L.L.C., No. 12 – 30714, a man was killed and three others injured while working on a barge supporting a truck-mounted drilling rig in south Louisiana. The original lawsuit claimed negligence under the Jones Act and unseaworthiness under general maritime law. Shaffer, a Jones Act attorney with the Houston maritime law firm Schechter, McElwee, Shaffer & Harris, said the ruling is significant for injured workers.