Maintenance and Cure Claims

Pacific Coast Maintenance and Cure Lawyers
Banning Micklow & Bull - San Francisco - San Diego

Widely known as "the sacred right", a working seaman's entitlement to maintenance and cure from his employer while recovering from shipboard or sea-related injuries or illness is one of the few aspects of maritime law that normally lies beyond dispute. We're continually surprised, however, by the difficulty many seamen encounter in collecting these basic benefits from their marine employer without skilled maritime legal counsel.

If you've been injured, or fallen ill at sea, or anywhere while in the service of the vessel or subject to the call of duty, contact the California maintenance and cure attorneys at Banning Micklow & Bull. We can help make sure you're collecting all of the following, from the time of your injury forward:

• Maintenance payments - a reasonable daily living allowance for all food and shelter.
• Proper medical treatment, including hospitalization, medication, and where necessary, wheelchairs, prostheses, and therapeutic equipment.
• Physical therapy, and convalescent and rehabilitation services.
• Attorneys fees and costs in any case where your benefits have been wrongfully denied or delayed.

The injured seaman also has the right to choose his or her own treating physician -you're not stuck with the doctor chosen by your employer or its insurer.

Maintenance and cure payments, somewhat like worker's compensation benefits, are owed without regard to the fault or negligence of your employer or any third party, or any alleged assumption of risk or contributory negligence on the part of the injured seamen or mariner. The employer is strictly liable for your maintenance and cure.

An injured seaman is entitled under both the Jones Act and general maritime law to maintenance and cure benefits from the time of the injury up to the time of "maximum medical improvement", which is when the seaman is completely recovered, or when further recovery is no longer possible - usually indicating a permanent disability.

If you are an injured seaman who has not been collecting daily maintenance payments, or who has been forced into inadequate medical treatment by your employer or its insurance company, contact the California maintenance and cure attorneys at Banning Micklow & Bull for a free and confidential discussion about your rights, and what we can do to enforce them.

Banning Micklow & Bull - California Maintenance and Cure Attorneys

One Market Street
Steuart Tower, Suite 1440
San Francisco, California 94105
Telephone: (415) 399-9191
Fax: (415) 399-9192

501 West Broadway, Suite 2090
San Diego, California 92101
Telephone: (619) 230-0030
Fax: (619) 230-1350

E-Mail Us

California maintenance and cure attorneys Banning Micklow & Bull recover payments for living allowances, medical treatment, and physical therapy for Jones Act seamen, fisheries workers, and merchant mariners who have suffered commercial vessel or crab boat accident injuries throughout the Pacific, including California, Alaska, Hawaii, San Francisco, San Diego, Long Beach, Oakland, Los Angeles, Sacramento, Stockton, Santa Barbara, San Pedro, Crescent City, Wilmington, Bodega Bay, Pillar Point, Oxnard, Eureka, Half Moon Bay, Port Hueneme, Tijuana, Mexico, Ensenada, Guam, Honolulu, Pago Pago, American Samoa, Saipan, Los Angeles Harbor, and the San Francisco Bay Area and Delta.