CORPUS CHRISTI — A man’s leg was severed in an accident on an offshore oil rig supply vessel Friday, officials said.

Coast Guard Air Station Corpus Christi sent a helicopter rescue crew and a patrol boat to the Sandra Sino, roughly 27 miles offshore about 3 p.m., according to a news release.

The man was working alongside the oil rig when his leg got tangled in a mooring line, officials said.

The Coast Guard took the man to Christus Spohn Hospital Memorial where he was listed in critical but stable condition, the release said.

The Jones Act covers this type of injury. For more information, call Gordon, Elias & Seely, L.L.P. at 800-773-6770.

Coast Guard rescues two men following helicopter crash by medvac in GofM - Family Badge

This Sunday morning , November 1, 2009, the United States Coast Guard had to Medvac two seaman as a result of  a helicopter crash that occurred in the Gulf of Mexico. Coast Guard Galvveston reported a medevac of two men following helicopter crash in Gulf of Mexico. There was a transmission to the USCG-Houston that two men were rescued from the GofM. There were two injuries reported.

Persons are usually unaware that the Jones Act does apply to helicopter crashes of this type. The Jones Act requires that safe ingree and safe egree be provided. Obviously, when a chopper goes down in the transporting of a cremember, then they have a valid Jones Act claim ans, more than likely a claim against the helicopter company, e.g., PHP.

If you or a family member believes that you have a valid Jones Act claim, contact the maritime lawyers of Gordon & Elias, L.L.P. at 800-773-6770. Our phones are answered 24/7/365.

Lawmaker Vows to Tighten Jones Act

Rep. Gene Taylor, D-Miss., intends to introduce a bill to improve Coast Guard enforcement of the vessel construction requirements of the Jones Act, his staff said Friday afternoon.

During House debate of the 2010 Coast Guard appropriations bill, Taylor offered an amendment that would have set statutory limits on the amount of steel that could be used by a foreign shipyard to repair or rebuild a Jones Act-eligible ship. The House voted the amendment out of order.

According to Stephen Paranich, Taylor's chief of staff, members of the House Ways and Means staff objected to the amendment based on concerns raised by the U.S. Trade Representative. The USTR worried that the changes in the Jones Act would trigger a review of the law by the World Trade Organization.

The Jones Act, which has been the foundation of U.S. domestic maritime policy since the 1920s, requires ships operating between U.S. ports to be owned and manned by U.S. citizens, and built in the United States. The law was grandfathered when the United States adopted the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, the WTO's predecessor.

Paranich said that Taylor's amendment had been drafted with the assistance of the Coast Guard. Repairs or rebuilds of Jones Act ships in foreign shipyards are managed by regulation by the Coast Guard's National Vessel Documentation Center.

In June 2008, Taylor held hearings about the Coast Guard's regulatory practice after the agency gave the go-ahead to Matson Navigation and Seabulk to have substantial construction on their ships done at shipyards in China. He called the Coast Guard's approval of the projects "a screw-up.

The Jones Act in Hawaii: Is Hanabusa or Case Right About O'Keefe?

Wayne Parsons

Malia Zimmerman of The Hawaii Reporter reports on 20 October 2009 that a ""Jones Act Lawsuit Will Test Control of Hawaii's Shipping Monopoly".Jones Act Lawsuit Will Test Control of Hawaii's Shipping Monopoly". Her story is about a bread maker in Hilo who claims that he had to pay $5.50 to ship a 50 lb. bag of flour to Hilo from the mainland and that the cost ruined his busines