As a McAllen oil rig accident lawyer, I know the risks of drilling. If you work on an oil rig anywhere in the world, you know how dangerous an accident can be. Injuries suffered to workers on oil rigs are often very serious. They may include, broken bones, serious burns, head trauma and spine trauma. When an oil rig worker is seriously hurt, his livelihood and ability to help his family is in serious jeopardy.
A Texas cruise ship accident lawyer needs to know that typical maritime law does not always apply to cruise ship accidents. Often, cruise lines have certain provisions in their passenger tickets (which are authorized by United States federal statutes) which change (and often shorten) the time in which an injured passenger may file a lawsuit. Although the usual statute of limitations for maritime cases is three years, these provisions often shorten the time to one year. Moreover, cruise ship lines also have forum selection clauses, which mandate that they can only be sued in a certain place (often Miami, Florida).
The Death on the High Seas Act (DOHSA) applies to persons, including passengers, when the death is caused by a wrongful act on the high seas beyond a marine league from the shore of all states, dependencies and territories of the United States. DOHSA does not apply to deaths on the Great Lakes or the rivers or lakes within the country. All suits under DOHSA must be brought in admiralty. The statute of limitations for DOHSA lawsuits is now three years. DOHSA actions may only be brought by the decedent’s personal representative, for the exclusive benefit of the decedent’s parent, child, spouse, or “dependent relative.” Children, parents and the spouse do not have to prove dependency to recover.
As a Starr County personal injury lawyer, I have seen a strange condition that clients have. Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy Syndrome (RSDS) is a condition with multiple conflicting and odd, even bizarre symptoms. The one symptom which seems to be consistent is pain, often excruciating. The injured person’s complaints of severe pain often are not accepted at face value because the factor causing the pain is often not the one which is associated with the extreme symptoms.
Personal injury lawyers should understand that RSDS may occur in any area of the body, but the most common is in the person’s extremities. One of the biggest problems with RSDS is the failure of the treating doctors to diagnose it. The typical history of a very slight blunt trauma to a small area of an extremity usually does not result in serious problems to the entire extremity.