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морской юрист

Compensation due to the injury. If the maximum rate exists?

Almost each seafarer having got an injury, enquires the marine lawyer as for the probable sum of compensation to be received. And personally I often feel uneasy to hear that some lawyer has promised somebody to get millions of dollars or euro.

As long as my practice runs, I have never heard of any either Ukrainian or Russian seafarer having received a million $ or something close to it.

As for me, these are just hopeless believes usually regarded as a nonsense.

95% of all compensatory cases the marine lawyers are trying to close at the maximum rate with regard to the sum specified either in the contract or a collective agreement.

And only in 5% of all compensatory cases the marine lawyers are trying to increase the contract sum by means of negotiations or by trial under any suitable jurisdiction.

As you see, there can’t be specified the insurance sum of 1 000 000 $ in the contract as compensation for the injury aboard the vessel. It’s unlikely to ever happen.

As far as I remember, the highest compensation sum for the Ukrainian seafarers under the contract is 250 000$.

May be there is a larger sum somewhere, but I personally haven’t seen it, and for sure I haven’t met the seafarers who have signed the contracts with the larger sums.

Thus, if to speak about much larger sums, it will be the above mentioned 5%.

That is all the legal actions directed to the increase of the compensation by means of the negotiations or a trial.

But even in this situation it’s hard to account to the loyalty of justice and prompt trial and negotiation process.

No one ever arbitrarily wishes to lose such money and the insurance company and the ship owner less of all do so.

In other words, to obtain the increased compensation by means of the negotiations or the trial, all the planets should stand in a line. And not the otherwise.

The factors to influence the increased compensation:  

  1. The grave nature of the injury
  2. Confirmed guilt of the company in the seafarer’s getting the injury
  3. Getting the injury on the territory of suitable jurisdiction ( The USA, Greece, Turkey, EU etc)
  4. Large insurance company
  5. Major ship owner
  6. The vessel sails under suitable jurisdiction

These are the fundamental factors but far not all.

That is an ideal situation, when there is an opportunity to increase the sum of compensation in several times. But still, I stipulate, that even under such ideal conditions, one can’t account that the employer will be sitting still agreeing with every argument you are providing.

That’s why in real life but not the virtual one only small percent of injuries can allow the seafarer to account to compensation much bigger than that specified in his contract.

That’s why I don’t believe in the nonsense of million dollars compensation for the Ukrainian seafarer injury. I don’t believe it because I know the matter as it really is.

And now a logical question from you to arise as for the maximum sum I’ve managed to claim.

By means of negotiations and compromises I managed to claim 325 000 $ in favor of my client (1st invalidity group).

Up to the present day it’s the maximum sum for my client to get for his injury. Without a trial and lengthy judicial procedures.

I had some more substantial payments to my clients in the amounts of 285 000, 250 000, 190 000 $.

I’m aware, that as the practice shows, it’s not the highest attainable sum and there were some separate cases when the seafarers managed to get more than 325 000 $. But I don’t know any cases when the Ukrainian seafarer managed to get compensation in the sum of 1 000 000 $ or close to it.

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