Jama Idle Ibrahim faced several criminal charges arising from the attack, and this week, he pleaded guilty as part of a deal with prosecutors.  Ibrahim had been accused of opening fire on the USS Ashland in the Gulf of Eden.  There were six men on the pirate boat.  The U.S. Navy vessel returned fire, killing one person and capturing the other pirates.

This week, Ibrahim pleaded guilty to attacking to plunder a vessel, use of firearms during a crime of violence, and acts of violence against persons on a vessel.  Earlier this month, a judge in Norfolk had thrown out the piracy charges against the six men, because they had not robbed, boarded or taken control of the vessel.  The piracy conviction would’ve meant a mandatory life sentence for Ibrahim and his five accomplices.   However, the six men continued to face other criminal charges.

Sentencing has been set for 29 November.  Ibrahim is likely to be sentenced to 30 years in prison.  According to US Attorney Neil McBride, this is the first conviction for piracy in more than 150 years.

The unrest and continued political and economic tension in Somalia has created a fertile environment for the breeding of pirates. This continues to be a serious maritime safety issue for seamen.

Maritime lawyer Brian Beckcom is a Board-Certified Trial Lawyer whose primary focus is the representation of Jones Act seamen, including tankermen,  galley hands, deckhands, cruise line crews, fishing vessel crew members, offshore workers and other maritime workers in accidents in Texas, across the country and international waters.

Image Coutresy: Flickr – Olivier Bruchez

The U.S. Navy ship was attacked off the Horn of Africa in April.  The six were accused of opening fire on the vessel from a small stiff.  The Navy vessel returned fire.  One of the men was killed, and the stiff sank.  All six men in the boat were captured.

Their lawyers argued that their actions did not amount to piracy, because they did not board the vessel, did not take control of the vessel and did not take anything of value from the vessel.  Last week, Judge Raymond Jackson of the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, agreed with the defense lawyers.  If the piracy charge had stuck, it would have resulted in a mandatory sentence of life in prison.

Although the piracy charges have been thrown out, the six continue to face charges of attacking to plunder the vessel, assault with a dangerous weapon on US officers and employees, and acts of violence against people on the vessel.  The men had early been indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of attack to plunder a vessel, piracy, assault with a dangerous weapon, and conspiracy to use firearms during a crime of violence.

The dismissal of the piracy charges should encourage a group of 5 other Somali men who are accused of mounting an attack on the USS Nicholas on 31 March.  These men are also seeking a dismissal of the piracy charges.

Maritime lawyer Brian Beckcom is a Board-Certified Trial Lawyer whose primary focus is the representation of Jones Act seamen, including tankermen,  galley hands, deckhands, cruise line crews, fishing vessel crew members, offshore workers and other maritime workers in accidents in Texas, across the country and international waters.

Image Courtesy: Flickr – kainr

In my experience, concerns about getting blackballed or blacklisted in the industry if you file a maritime claim or complaint, may be overblown.  However, this only applies if you have a legitimate complaint.  If you have a legitimate claim, there’s little chance that the employer will retaliate against you by blackballing you or blacklisting you.

Every day, workers file claims against maritime employers.  Many of these claims are genuine, legitimate claims, and employers know that these maritime workers are within their rights to pursue these claims.  Besides, your maritime claim will be paid out by your employer’s insurance company.  Maritime companies are required to maintain insurance, and this is used to pay out injury claims.

If it is a legitimate claim, your employer may not gain much by trying to badmouth you, besmirch your reputation or blacklist you in the industry.  In fact, there are ways by which you can hold your employer accountable for his blacklisting or blackballing tactics.

Things might be different however, if you have a reputation as a troublemaker who likes to file lawsuits baselessly.  Unfortunately, I know there are people out there who take pleasure in filing frivolous lawsuits, and wasting people’s time.  These people also make it tough on the vast majority of genuine workers out there who have legitimate complaints.  The bottom-line is that if you have a legitimate complaint, your maritime employer will not have much to gain from blacklisting you.

If you fear that your employer is going to blackball you just because you reported an injury or filed a claim, feel free to contact me at my office.

The maritime lawyers at Vujasinovic and Beckcom represent injured maritime workers and their families across the US and worldwide.  We protect maritime workers who have been blackballed, or are being retaliated against for reporting safety concerns, workplace injuries, or asserting their legal rights.

To learn more about how you can protect your rights, order a copy of one of our free books and reports.

If you want to talk to one of our maritime attorneys immediately, call our toll-free number 877.724.7800 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and schedule an appointment.

Image courtesy: Flickr – Glamlife-studentportal

The threat of being blackballed by an employer is a real, but not overwhelming one.  It’s natural for any employee to feel anxious that his employer will blackball him and blacklist him in the industry, so that he never finds work in the industry again.  Maritime workers, who have been in the industry for decades, can’t imagine doing any other kind of work, and so, the threat of being blackballed can cause great stress.

Will your employer try blackballing tactics against you if you file a lawsuit?  That rarely happens, but it’s possible.  However, I typically find blackballing tactics to be successful only in cases where a maritime employee has a history of filing frivolous lawsuits, or has a highly litigious record of filing multiple lawsuits against former employers.  That kind of history could make it easier for an employer to ensure that you don’t find employment within the industry again.  However, I also find this kind of behavior quite rare in the maritime worker fraternity.

If you fear that your employer is going to blackball you just because you reported an injury or filed a claim, feel free to contact me at my office.

The maritime lawyers at Vujasinovic and Beckcom represent injured maritime workers and their families across the US and worldwide.  We protect maritime workers who have been blackballed, or are being retaliated against for reporting safety concerns, workplace injuries, or asserting their legal rights.

To learn more about how you can protect your rights, order a copy of one of our free books and reports.

If you want to talk to one of our maritime attorneys immediately, call our toll-free number 877.724.7800 , 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and schedule an appointment.

Image Courtesy: Flickr – DVIDSHUB

However, if like me and every other maritime lawyer out there, you believe that Texas has flirted with the idea of corporate immunity for these megamoth companies for too long, then join me in supporting the folks at Texas Watch as they take on the tort reform brigade.

Last week, a joint committee was convened to discuss workplace safety in Texas, and representatives of Texas Watch were on hand to inform the committee, that giving companies like BP immunity from civil lawsuits is a terrible idea, because it simply takes away any incentive that these companies have to better their safety record.  BP is a prime example.  The company has learned little from the numerous accidents, injuries and fatalities that it has been involved in over the past few years.

The rights of workers in Texas are being infringed upon by corporate privilege, under the guise of tort reform.  It’s time to put an end to this.  The Texas Watch website has more information on how you can make your voice heard.

Image Courtesy: Flickr – levork

A former employee of Seredino alleges that he was fired for refusing to remain silent about illegal activities that endangered the safety of the public. According to Kelly O’Connor, a former licensed boat pilot for Seredino, he repeatedly complained to his superiors at the company that Seredino was violating safety laws by making crewmembers work for more than 12 hours at a stretch. He made several complaints to his superiors, but all of these were ignored. In fact, he was told in no uncertain terms that his complaints were not welcome.

According to his lawsuit, he was told to be quiet about the violations of the 12 hour shift rule, and to keep working these long shifts if he wanted to keep his job. He also informed his superiors that they needed to perform more drug tests on crewmembers because of the established practice of crew members drinking and smoking marijuana while on the vessel. Those complaints went unattended too. His lawsuit doesn’t mention any dollar amounts in compensation, but he is seeking back pay and punitive damages.

Obviously, the allegations that O’Connor makes are serious, and they could provide investigators who are looking at the causes of the Tennessee barge-fishing boat collision, new clues. The tugboat crewmembers in that accident had insisted that they never saw the fishing boat that was in their path. As a result, the tug plowed through the fishing boat, splitting it, and trapping three fishermen underneath. Two of them died while one survived.

Working beyond your work hour rules contributes to operator fatigue, which seriously increases a crewmember’s risk of being involved in a maritime accident. . O’Connor needs to be commended for coming out openly about the illegal and unsafe practices at his former employer.

Maritime lawyer Brian Beckcom is a Board-Certified Trial Lawyer whose primary focus is the representation of Jones Act seamen, including tankermen,  galley hands, deckhands, cruise line crews, fishing vessel crew members, offshore workers and other maritime workers in accidents in Texas, across the country and international waters.

For instance, there is plenty of discussion right now about a possible repeal of the Death on the High Seas Act which severely limits compensation to the families of people killed out at sea. The cruise ship lobby and the oil industry are both lobbying hard to prevent such a repeal. Last week, the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times discussed efforts that are going on to tweak these laws.    Many of these laws, like DOHSA,  now seem antiquated and obsolete.

One law that I would like to see repealed is the Limitation of Liability Act, which Transocean invoked when it rushed to limit the extent of its liability after the Deepwater Horizon explosion. The Death on the High Seas Act in its current form also needs to go. It’s appalling that families of people killed more than 12 nautical miles from US shores have very restricted compensation available to them for their losses. Often this compensation can barely be enough to cover their funeral expenses.

Unfortunately, it can sometimes take a massive disaster of this magnitude to force some traction on this issue. Hopefully when all the dust settles, we will have amended maritime laws that promise speedier, abundant justice for victims.

In the days since the spill was discovered, lawmakers have appealed to Pres. Barack Obama to waive off the provisions of the Jones Act to allow foreign-flagged vessels to help with the oil spill cleanup effort. Several countries have offered us help with oil spill cleanup efforts, including sending their own foreign-flagged vessels to help with the efforts.

The president has remained noncommittal on the issue, rarely speaking on it. Many sections of the media have devoted valuable space to push for repeal of, what they called an outdated and antiquated law that dates back decades. The Washington Post has come out with a piece strongly supporting any move to repeal the law, and so has the San Francisco Examiner.

These efforts by lawmakers seem to be aimed more at political one-upmanship than any real desire to help with oil spill cleanup efforts. For now, the US Coast Guard Navy ships and others are doing all they can to help with the cleanup, and at this point in time, it doesn’t seem like waiving the Jones Act would do any good.

Maritime lawyer Brian Beckcom is a Board-Certified Trial Lawyer whose primary focus is the representation of Jones Act seamen, including tankermen,  galley hands, deckhands, cruise line crews, fishing vessel crew members, offshore workers and other maritime workers in accidents in Texas, across the country and international waters.

One such employer is tanker company OSG. The company is reportedly trying to get employees to give up their rights to a Jones Act claim, or a claim of unseaworthiness in exchange for what they call a Salary Continuation Plan. Under the Salary Continuation Plan, OSG agrees to pay a Jones act seamen 50% of his basic wages for two months, and all union benefits. In return, the Seaman is expected to agree not to have any surgery after the injury, unless the company gets a second opinion. If the two medical opinions clash, then the seaman would be required to get a third opinion.

Moreover, if the employee recovered from his injuries and became fit for duty within the two-month period, he would receive no compensation.

If he was not fit for duty within two months, the company would offer one of two options.

• The company would either continue paying him 50% of the wages until he recovered fully and reported for duty again, and the worker would be expected to waive off his rights to a Jones Act claim.
• The company would stop paying him compensation, and he would retain his right to sue under the Jones Act.

It’s important for workers to understand that waiving off their Jones Act rights can severely impact their ability to claim damages in the event of a serious injury caused by their employer’s negligence.

However at this point, it’s not clear how the oil managed to reach the Texas coastline. It’s very unlikely that the oil was pushed along by currents. It is much more likely that the tar balls got sucked into a ship’s ballast, or got stuck to a ship’s side as it sailed through the contaminated waters of the Gulf of Mexico.

The good news is that the Coast Guard does not expect more tar balls to begin washing up on our beaches. However, if the worst does happen, and there is more damage to the Texas coast, the Coast Guard has a new post in Texas City to oversee oil spill cleanup efforts in Texas.

Maritime lawyer Brian Beckcom is a Board-Certified Trial Lawyer whose primary focus is the representation of Jones Act seamen, including tankermen,  galley hands, deckhands, cruise line crews, fishing vessel crew members, offshore workers and other maritime workers in accidents in Texas, across the country and international waters.