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Compensation for Port of Houston Dock and Terminal Injuries
Port of Houston Longshore Injury Lawyers
If you were hurt loading, unloading, or working cargo at the Port of Houston, you are usually not limited to ordinary workers' compensation.
Most dock and terminal workers are covered by a federal law, the Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act, which pays more than Texas comp does.
And when a vessel's negligence caused the injury, that same law preserves a separate, full-damages claim against the ship on top of those benefits.
Lawsuit Legal works from our Houston office and represents longshoremen and terminal workers hurt at Barbours Cut, Bayport, the Turning Basin, and the private docks along the Ship Channel.
Our Texas cases are led by personal injury attorney Don Worley, licensed by the State Bar of Texas, with more than 40,000 cases handled and over $100 million recovered for injury victims.
The no-fault benefit is only the floor, and the larger recovery usually comes from the claims against the vessel and the other companies on the dock.
Call (888) 713-6653 for a free, confidential review of your dock injury claim. You Win or It's Free.
At-a-Glance: How Dock and Terminal Workers Get Hurt
- Falls into a cargo hold or between the ship and the dock
- Struck by suspended, swinging, or falling cargo and containers
- Crane, lashing, and rigging failures during loading and unloading
- Run-over and crush injuries from forklifts, top-handlers, and yard trucks
- Caught-in injuries on winches, hatch covers, and cargo gear
Who the Longshore Act Covers
- Longshoremen loading and unloading vessels
- Terminal, dock, and warehouse workers handling cargo on the waterfront
- Ship-repairers, shipbuilders, and ship-breakers
- Crane operators, lashers, checkers, and equipment operators on the dock
- Workers hurt on navigable water or on the adjoining piers and terminals
The Longshore Act: What It Covers and What It Pays
The Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act is a federal no-fault system for maritime workers who are not vessel crew. Whether it covers you turns on two questions: what you were doing, and where.[1]
Status. You must be engaged in maritime employment, which covers longshoring, terminal and cargo handling, and ship building, repair, and breaking. Situs. You must be hurt on navigable water or on an adjoining pier, wharf, terminal, or area customarily used to load, unload, build, or repair vessels. A cargo worker injured on a Port of Houston wharf meets both.
What the Longshore Act pays an injured worker:
- Full medical care for the work injury, with your choice of treating physician.
- About two-thirds of your average weekly wage while you cannot work, which often exceeds the Texas comp rate for the same wages.
- Scheduled awards for permanent partial disability, such as the loss or loss of use of a limb.
- Vocational rehabilitation when an injury keeps you from returning to your old job.
- Death benefits to a surviving spouse and children when a dock injury is fatal.
For a Houston dock worker, the practical difference from Texas workers' comp is real. The Longshore wage rate is often higher, you keep the right to your own treating doctor, and the claim is handled under federal rules through the Department of Labor rather than the state system. That is before any separate claim against a vessel or equipment maker is added.
Like workers' comp, the Longshore Act is generally your exclusive remedy against your own employer, the stevedore or terminal operator that hired you. The larger recoveries come from the parties the Act does not shield.
The Vessel-Negligence Claim That Pays More
The most valuable part of a dock injury case is often not the no-fault benefit. It is the separate claim the Longshore Act preserves against the vessel when the ship's negligence caused the injury.[2]
This claim, brought under Section 905(b) of the Act, is a full-damages negligence case against the vessel owner or operator, recovered on top of the benefits you receive from your employer. It pays the pain and suffering and full lost earnings that the no-fault benefit does not.
A vessel owes longshoremen working its cargo specific duties, and a breach of any of them can support the claim:
- The turnover duty. The ship must hand over the work areas and gear in reasonably safe condition and warn of hidden hazards the cargo crew would not discover.
- The active-control duty. The vessel remains responsible for areas and equipment it keeps under its own active control during cargo operations.
- The duty to intervene. When the ship knows of a developing danger the stevedore is not addressing, it has to step in.
Sorting out which company, the vessel, the stevedore, or another contractor, controlled the hazard is the heart of the case, and it decides where the full-value recovery comes from.
The no-fault benefit is the starting point, often the meaningful recovery comes from the claim against the vessel. Vessel negligence in a serious dock injury case opens the door to damages that can dramatically change the value of the recovery.
Where Injuries Happen Across the Port of Houston
The Port of Houston is one of the busiest ports in the country, and its terminals each carry their own hazards. Heavy cargo, constant vehicle traffic, and the gap between ship and shore make it some of the most dangerous ground in the region.[3]
Barbours Cut and Bayport container terminals. Ship-to-shore gantry cranes, straddle carriers, top-handlers, and yard trucks move containers at speed, where a worker can be struck, run over, or caught in a lashing or crane failure.
The Turning Basin and general-cargo docks. Steel, project cargo, and breakbulk are handled with cranes, slings, and forklifts, and shifting or dropped loads cause crush and struck-by injuries.
Bulk and liquid terminals. Dry-bulk handling and tank-barge transfers add dust, confined-space, and chemical hazards to the physical ones.
The ship itself. Falls into open holds, falls between the vessel and the dock, and injuries on hatch covers, ladders, and cargo gear happen aboard during loading and unloading.
Where the injury happened, and which company controlled that space, often decides who can be held responsible beyond the no-fault benefit.
Other Companies That Can Owe You
The waterfront is crowded with separate companies, and the Longshore Act bars only the claim against your own employer. Several of the others can be full-damages third parties.
- The vessel owner or operator, through the Section 905(b) negligence claim when the ship's condition or crew caused the injury.
- Equipment manufacturers, when a crane, forklift, lashing component, or other gear failed and a defect contributed to the injury.
- The terminal operator or another stevedore, when a company other than your employer controlled the hazard.
- Other contractors and trucking companies moving through the terminal whose negligence caused the incident.
Identifying every responsible company is how a dock case grows past the no-fault floor, the same third-party analysis that drives our plant contractor cases.
What to Do After a Dock Injury
The Longshore Act runs on strict deadlines, and the evidence that proves a vessel or equipment claim is controlled by the companies, so early steps matter.
- Get medical care and use your right to choose your treating physician.
- Report the injury in writing. The Longshore Act requires written notice to your employer within 30 days, so do not rely on a verbal report alone.
- Identify the vessel and the equipment involved, including the ship's name, the stevedore, and any crane, forklift, or gear that failed.
- Do not give a recorded statement or sign a release before you understand your rights.
- Call a Houston dock injury lawyer quickly. A formal Longshore claim is generally due within one year, and the vessel-negligence claim has its own deadline, so both should be reviewed early.[4]