Louisiana Maintenance and Cure Lawyers

What Is Maintenance and Cure Under Admiralty Law?

Maintenance and Cure is a doctrine of admiralty law, not Louisiana state law. This distinction matters. Louisiana workers' compensation rules do not apply to qualifying seamen. Federal maritime law does.

Maintenance covers your daily living expenses: housing, food, utilities, and basic necessities. It runs from the day you leave the vessel because of your injury or illness. Cure covers all reasonable and necessary medical treatment related to that injury or illness. Both run in parallel from the date of injury until you reach MMI.

You do not have to prove your employer was negligent to receive maintenance and cure. That is the core feature of the doctrine. Courts have historically treated seamen as "wards of admiralty" who deserve broad protection. The doctrine is construed in your favor when the facts are ambiguous.

Maintenance and cure is distinct from Louisiana maritime injury claims that require proving fault. It is a no-fault obligation that begins the moment you are injured in the service of a vessel.

Who Qualifies as a Seaman Under Maritime Law?

Seaman status is a legal question, not a matter of job title. Courts apply a two-part test established in the U.S. Supreme Court case Chandris, Inc. v. Latsis. First, the worker must contribute to the function of a vessel or to the accomplishment of its mission. Second, the worker must have a substantial connection to a vessel or identifiable fleet of vessels in navigation. Courts use a general benchmark of at least 30% of work time connected to vessel operations.

Vessels covered include offshore drilling rigs, supply boats, towboats and push boats, barges, dredges, ferries, and crew boats operating on Louisiana's inland waterways and the Gulf of Mexico. The Mississippi River, the Atchafalaya Basin, and the Red River system all support large commercial fleets where workers regularly qualify.

Not every maritime worker qualifies as a seaman. Longshoremen, harbor workers, and dock workers are typically covered by the LHWCA instead. The boundary matters because the two systems work very differently.

Employers frequently dispute seaman status to avoid paying maintenance and cure. This is their first and most common defense. Ask any attorney you speak with whether they have experience litigating seaman status disputes. If they have not handled a Chandris test challenge, that tells you something about their maritime background.

What Maintenance Covers: The Daily Rate and How to Maximize It

Maintenance is paid as a per diem rate. There is no federally mandated floor. Many employment contracts set the maintenance rate at $35 to $50 per day, which is far below what it actually costs to pay rent and buy food in most Louisiana cities.

Courts have consistently awarded higher maintenance rates when a seaman can document that their actual daily living costs exceed the contract rate. Your lease agreement, rent receipts, utility bills, and grocery records are the evidence. If you live somewhere that costs $900 a month in rent alone, you can argue the contract rate does not reflect your real expenses.

The per diem runs from the date you leave the vessel due to injury or illness through the date you reach MMI. Maintenance does not cover lost wages. If you want to recover lost income, that requires a separate Jones Act negligence claim.

Your employer also has a duty to pay maintenance promptly. Unreasonable delay in starting payments can constitute willful withholding under admiralty law. This applies even when the employer has not formally denied the claim. Employers who hold benefits for weeks or months without justification face the same punitive exposure as employers who deny outright. When you speak with a maritime attorney, ask them how they calculate actual daily living costs to challenge a low per diem and how they document delay as willful conduct.

What Cure Covers: Medical Benefits Until MMI

Cure encompasses all reasonable and necessary medical treatment connected to your vessel-related injury or illness. The covered expenses include physician visits, hospitalization, surgery, physical therapy, diagnostic imaging, prescription medications, durable medical equipment, and transportation to medical appointments. If the treatment is medically necessary and causally related to your injury, the employer owes it.

You have the right to choose your own treating physician. Your employer cannot restrict you to a company-designated doctor. This is a critical point. When employers direct you to their own medical providers, those providers have a documented pattern of recommending early return to work and early MMI declarations.

Cure continues until your treating physician determines you have reached MMI. An employer who refuses to pay for surgery that your independent doctor recommends, and instead substitutes the opinion of a company IME doctor, may be acting in willful breach. Courts have found willful withholding where the employer relied on a hired medical examiner to override the treating physician's recommendation for additional treatment.

If you suspect your employer has prematurely cut off cure, the next step is getting an independent medical evaluation on your own timeline, not on theirs.

When Does the Employer's Obligation End? Understanding MMI

MMI does not mean full recovery. It means the condition has stabilized and further treatment will not materially improve the outcome. A seaman can reach MMI while still having significant permanent impairment. The cure obligation ends at MMI, but the seaman's other claims do not.

The treating physician determines when MMI is reached. The employer, the employer's insurer, and a hired IME doctor do not make that call. The determination comes through progress notes, clinical exam findings, functional capacity evaluations, and documented treatment outcomes. An employer who simply declares MMI without medical support, or who relies exclusively on a company-hired examiner, risks a willful withholding finding.

After MMI, you may still pursue an unseaworthiness claim under general maritime law or a Jones Act negligence claim for residual damages including lost earning capacity, pain and suffering, and permanent impairment. The end of cure does not close your case.

A seaman who is declared temporarily totally disabled is still entitled to cure as long as medical improvement remains possible. Temporary total disability and MMI are different thresholds. Do not let an insurer conflate them. When you talk to an attorney, ask them specifically how they handle disputes over premature MMI declarations and whether they work with independent treating physicians or vocational specialists.

Punitive Damages for Willful Withholding of Benefits

The U.S. Supreme Court held in Atlantic Sounding Co. v. Townsend (2009) that punitive damages are available under general maritime law when an employer willfully and wantonly withholds maintenance and cure. This is a unique admiralty remedy. Louisiana state tort law punitive damage rules do not apply here.

Willful withholding means the employer knew the seaman was entitled to benefits and refused without a reasonable basis in the facts or the law. It is a high bar. Not every denial or dispute rises to willful withholding. Courts distinguish between good-faith disputes about eligibility and arbitrary or unreasonable refusals. Good-faith disputes do not support punitive damages. Arbitrary refusals where the employer had no legitimate factual or legal basis do.

When willful withholding is established, the seaman can recover punitive damages in addition to the unpaid maintenance amounts and unreimbursed medical costs. The seaman is also entitled to attorney fees. These fee-shifting provisions matter. They create a real deterrent against bad-faith delay.

Morris & Dewett has handled maintenance and cure disputes where employers delayed payment for months without any medical basis for their position. The punitive damages analysis starts with documenting what the employer knew and when. Ask any attorney you consider how they document willful withholding claims and whether they have experience taking these disputes through litigation.

Maintenance and Cure Alongside a Jones Act Negligence Claim

Maintenance and cure and a Jones Act negligence claim are separate, parallel remedies. Pursuing one does not eliminate the other. They serve different purposes and have different standards of proof.

Maintenance and cure is the no-fault baseline. It begins immediately upon injury without requiring proof that anyone did anything wrong. The Jones Act requires proving employer negligence. That takes longer, requires investigation, and usually resolves closer to trial or in settlement negotiations.

A Jones Act claim recovers what maintenance and cure does not: lost wages, loss of earning capacity, past and future pain and suffering, and other general damages. An unseaworthiness claim is a third parallel remedy. It holds the vessel owner liable when the vessel or its equipment was not reasonably fit for its intended purpose, regardless of whether the owner was negligent.

The prescriptive period for these claims differs from Louisiana state law. Louisiana's two-year prescriptive period under La. C.C. Art. 3493.11 does not apply to admiralty claims. The prescriptive period for a maintenance and cure claim under admiralty law is three years under 46 U.S.C. SS 30106. Jones Act negligence claims also carry a three-year limitation. Do not assume Louisiana's two-year rule applies. A maritime attorney who quotes you two years for a Jones Act case is working from the wrong body of law.

When evaluating a maritime attorney, ask them how they handle a case where the employer disputes negligence but the seaman is already receiving maintenance and cure. An experienced maritime attorney builds both claims in parallel from the start, preserving evidence for the negligence case while securing the no-fault benefits immediately. Morris & Dewett handles the full range of maritime remedies together, not in sequence.

See our Louisiana maritime injury lawyers page for a broader overview of the remedies available to maritime workers.

Employer Defenses and How to Counter Them

Four defenses appear in nearly every maintenance and cure dispute in Louisiana: seaman status challenges, service connection disputes, pre-existing condition arguments, and company doctor tactics. Knowing each in advance lets you build a stronger claim from day one.

Seaman Status Challenges

The Chandris two-part test is the most-litigated threshold issue in maintenance and cure. An employer who can successfully argue you are not a qualifying seaman eliminates the entire maintenance and cure obligation. The defense focuses on your work history: what percentage of your time was actually spent on a vessel, whether the vessel was in navigation, and whether your duties contributed to the vessel's function. Document your work history in detail. Payroll records, work orders, scheduling records, and crewmate statements all matter.

Service Connection and Pre-Existing Condition Defenses

Employers frequently argue that your injury or illness was not incurred "in the service of the vessel." They may claim it happened on shore, outside your work duties, or predated your employment. The service connection requirement is broadly construed by courts. It does not require that the injury occurred on the vessel itself.

The pre-existing condition defense is related but distinct. An employer may deny benefits if a seaman knowingly concealed a pre-existing condition when applying for work. But the concealment must be knowing and material. If you disclosed your prior condition, or if the condition was not relevant to your job duties, the defense fails. More importantly, even if a pre-existing condition exists, the aggravation doctrine means your employer still owes maintenance and cure if vessel service aggravated or accelerated the condition. Aggravation is enough. Full causation is not required.

The Company Doctor Problem

Employers direct injured seamen to company-designated physicians. Those physicians are selected and paid by the employer. Their findings predictably favor early return to work and early MMI. You have the right to seek reasonable and necessary treatment from physicians you trust. The company doctor's opinion is not binding. Developing your own independent medical record from treating physicians who are not in the employer's network is one of the most important things you can do after a maritime injury.

When an employer conditions continued cure payments on exclusive treatment with their doctor, that tactic exceeds their legal authority. Ask any attorney you consult whether they have experience challenging company IME findings and how they work with independent treating physicians in maritime cases.

What to Do Immediately After a Maritime Injury in Louisiana

Report the injury in writing, seek medical treatment the same day, and begin tracking every expense. These three actions in the first 24 hours establish the foundation of your maintenance and cure claim. Every gap in documentation becomes a defense point for your employer.

Report the injury to the captain or vessel operator immediately and in writing. Oral reports can be disputed or forgotten. If you were hurt on a barge on the Atchafalaya or a supply boat in the Gulf, put it in writing that day. Request a copy of the vessel's accident and incident report before you leave the vessel or the dock.

Seek medical treatment promptly. Gaps in treatment give employers room to argue the injury was not serious or was not work-related. If you cannot access a physician immediately, document why. Keep all medical records, discharge papers, and treatment notes.

Do not sign any document from your employer or their insurer without legal counsel. Releases, recorded statements, and medical authorization forms that are broader than needed for your claim can damage your case. This includes documents that appear routine.

Preserve physical evidence. Photograph the vessel, the scene, any defective equipment, and your visible injuries. If relevant equipment is still on the vessel, ask your attorney about a preservation demand to prevent repairs or replacement before inspection.

Track every expense. Rent receipts, utility statements, grocery bills, and out-of-pocket medical costs become the documentation for your maintenance rate calculation and your cure reimbursement claim. Start a file on day one and keep it current.

What Compensation Does Louisiana Maritime Law Allow After a Maintenance and Cure Dispute?

A successful maintenance and cure claim recovers three categories: unpaid maintenance (the daily stipend that was withheld), unreimbursed medical expenses paid out of pocket, and interest on those unpaid amounts. In cases of willful and wanton refusal, the seaman is also entitled to attorney fees and punitive damages under Atlantic Sounding.

The compensation structure for a pure maintenance and cure claim does not include lost wages or pain and suffering. Those damages require a Jones Act negligence claim or unseaworthiness claim filed alongside the maintenance and cure action. The two claims are almost always filed together when negligence is involved because each recovers what the other does not.

Ask any attorney you consult how they coordinate a maintenance and cure dispute with a parallel Jones Act claim and whether they have experience taking maintenance and cure willful withholding claims through litigation rather than settling them early for less than full value. Morris & Dewett has handled both sides of this equation and has litigated maintenance and cure disputes where the punitive damages exposure changed the employer's posture significantly.

You can review our case results at morrisdewett.com/results/. We do not quote settlement amounts in content, but the breadth of maritime and offshore work is documented there.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Louisiana workers' compensation law cover my maritime injury?

No. If you qualify as a seaman under the Jones Act and the Chandris two-part test, Louisiana workers' compensation does not apply to your claim. Your remedies are maintenance and cure under general admiralty law, Jones Act negligence, and unseaworthiness. These are federal claims governed by federal admiralty law, not the Louisiana Workers' Compensation Act. Longshoremen and harbor workers who do not qualify as Jones Act seamen may be covered by the LHWCA instead.

How much is maintenance per day for a Louisiana seaman?

There is no federally mandated minimum. Many employer contracts set maintenance at $35 to $50 per day, but courts have awarded higher amounts when the seaman can document that actual daily living costs exceed that rate. Rent receipts, utility bills, and grocery records are used to establish your real daily expenses. If your actual housing and food costs exceed the contract rate, you can challenge the contractual figure through litigation or demand letter.

How long do I have to file a maintenance and cure claim?

Under admiralty law, the prescriptive period for a maintenance and cure claim is three years under [46 U.S.C. SS 30106](https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title46-section30106). This is different from Louisiana's two-year prescriptive period under La. C.C. Art. 3493.11, which applies to state personal injury claims but not to admiralty claims. Jones Act negligence claims also carry a three-year limitation period. Do not rely on Louisiana's two-year rule for maritime claims.

Can my employer force me to see their doctor?

No. You have the right to seek reasonable and necessary medical care from physicians you choose. Your employer cannot make continued cure payments conditional on exclusive treatment with a company-designated doctor. Company doctors are selected and compensated by the employer, and their findings tend to favor early MMI and early discharge. Developing your own independent medical record with treating physicians outside the employer's network gives you control over the medical narrative of your case.

What happens if my employer declares MMI before I am fully recovered?

Your employer cannot unilaterally declare MMI. The determination must come from your treating physician based on documented clinical findings. If your employer or their insurer cuts off cure based on a company IME doctor's opinion that contradicts your treating physician, you should seek a second independent opinion and preserve all medical records. An employer who stops paying cure without medical support for an MMI finding risks a willful withholding finding and exposure to punitive damages under Atlantic Sounding.

Can I get punitive damages if my employer refuses to pay?

Yes, if the refusal is willful and wanton. The U.S. Supreme Court confirmed in Atlantic Sounding Co. v. Townsend (2009) that punitive damages are available under general maritime law for willful withholding of maintenance and cure. The bar is high: the employer must have known the seaman was entitled to benefits and refused without a reasonable factual or legal basis. Good-faith disputes about eligibility do not support punitive damages. But arbitrary refusals, refusals based on pretextual IME opinions, and deliberate delay without justification have all supported punitive damage findings.

How is maintenance and cure different from the Jones Act?

Maintenance and cure is a no-fault benefit. You do not have to prove anyone was negligent. It covers daily living expenses (maintenance) and medical costs (cure) until MMI. The Jones Act is a federal negligence statute that lets qualifying seamen sue their employer for injuries caused by employer negligence. A Jones Act claim can recover lost wages, loss of earning capacity, and pain and suffering. Those damages are not available under maintenance and cure alone. Both claims can be filed together and usually are in cases involving employer negligence.

What if I am injured on an offshore platform or drilling rig?

It depends on whether you qualify as a Jones Act seaman. Workers who spend the majority of their time on a fixed offshore platform may be classified as platform workers rather than seamen, which changes the applicable law. Mobile drilling units (drillships, semi-submersibles, jack-up rigs) are generally treated as vessels, and workers with a substantial connection to those vessels may qualify for Jones Act protections including maintenance and cure. Fixed platforms are a different analysis. A maritime attorney can review your work history and the nature of the structure you work on to determine which legal framework applies.

Do I have to go to court to collect maintenance and cure?

Most maintenance and cure disputes are resolved without a full trial. After an attorney sends a formal demand letter documenting what is owed, many employers pay or negotiate a resolution. When employers refuse to pay without a legitimate basis, litigation becomes necessary. Courts have broad authority to award unpaid benefits, interest, attorney fees, and in willful cases, punitive damages. The threat of punitive exposure is often what moves an employer toward settlement. Morris & Dewett handles these disputes from demand through trial if that is what it takes.

How much does a maritime attorney cost?

Morris & Dewett handles maritime injury cases on a {TERM: Contingency Fee | A fee arrangement where the attorney is paid a percentage of the recovery and only if there is a recovery. The client pays nothing upfront and owes no attorney fees if the case is unsuccessful.} basis. You pay nothing upfront. There are no hourly charges. The firm's fee comes from the recovery at the conclusion of the case. If there is no recovery, there is no attorney fee. This arrangement means our interests are aligned with yours from the first conversation.

These answers reflect Louisiana law as of January 2026. For case specific advice, consult with a Louisiana personal injury attorney who can evaluate your particular circumstances.