Are Diving Injuries Covered Under the Jones Act?
Diving Accident Law At Vujasinovic & Beckcom, L.L.P., we handle diving accident and injury cases. One of the first questions in these cases, particularly in commercial diving cases, is whether the Jones Act covers commercial divers. In 1992, in Ashley v. Epic Divers, Inc., the dive company argued that one of its employees, a freelance diver, was not a Jones Act seaman. The Court agreed. The Court reasoned that the diver was assigned to different vessels owned by differet owners and was therefore not a Jones Act seaman. Dive companies have used this ruling to argue that divers only get Longshore benefits under the Longshore & Harbor Worker’s Compensation Act. In 1995, 1997, and 2005, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a series of opinions that provided some additional guidance on the question “Who is a seaman?” In these opinions, the Court focuses on the nature of the worker’s work, not on some arbitrary “snapshot” test. Currently, most commercial divers who are injured offshore will be Jone
