Maritime Lawsuit Loans Help Injured Plaintiffs
Fair Rate Funding helps clients obtain immediate cash for their maritime lawsuits, prior to settlement. These financial transactions are known as maritime lawsuit loans.
Maritime Accidents and Background
Maritime work is dangerous and accidents plentiful. This makes sense, maritime work exists often in harsh environmental conditions and involves the use of heavy equipment and machinery. Because of this, those accidents resulting in injuries, often involve severe and permanent injury.
To protect maritime workers, lawmakers passed various acts to compensate injured workers for injuries sustained on the job.
Maritime Laws Try to Protect
Multiple laws exist to compensate injured maritime workers. The application of these laws depends on the location and type of work being done. These laws include:
- The Jones Act – also known as the Merchant Marine Act of 1920, the Jones Act covers seamen, who have been injured at sea during the course of their employment to bring a personal injury lawsuit against their employers for damages. The Jones Act is specifically designed to protect injured workers if the injury is caused by the employer’s negligence.
- The Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act (LHWCA) – The LHWCA covers many maritime workers who the Jones Act fails to protect. Since workers at ports were left out of Jones Act protection, the LHWCA offers benefits similar to state workers’ compensation laws. As such, proof of negligence is not required.
- The Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA) – OCSLA Workers aboard oil rigs and platforms and on other permanent structures on the continental shelf regions of the oceans are not protected by the Jones Act. The OCSLA provides workers’ compensation benefits to these individuals.
Maritime Lawyers Help the Pursuit of Justice
The specialized nature of the law means that attorneys are usually necessary to navigate injured workers through the legal landscape. Experienced maritime attorneys have the experience and expertise to pursue justice in this niche area and are almost always worth the cost.
Maritime Lawsuit Problems
The ability to file a lawsuit for compensation is a great benefit. The system is not perfect however, since lawsuits take some time to resolve. Because maritime injuries are work related and often severe, injured plaintiffs often cannot work as before. While some maritime laws offer temporary benefits while cases are pursued, the benefits sometimes fail to cover monthly expenses.
This type of scenario is common and unfortunately, some plaintiffs are forced to accept low-ball settlement offers simply to make ends meet. In this situation, maritime lawsuit loans can be a solution.
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What is a Maritime Lawsuit Loan?
A maritime lawsuit loan is a specialty financial transaction between an injured maritime worker (plaintiff) and a lawsuit “lender”. The lender advances money to the injured worker/plaintiff and in return, the plaintiff pledges a portion of the future settlement back to the company.
How are Maritime Lawsuit Loans Structured?
Settlement loan companies structure the cost of maritime lawsuit loans generally two different ways. The first calculates a repayment amount by charging a monthly percentage rate on the advance amount. The next month the percentage rate is calculated on the current repayment amount. Because interest is charged on the balance and not the original contract amount, the charges are said to “compound”.
The second type of charge applies a percentage rate on the original contract amount in 6 month increments. This non-compounding rate structure is also known as “simple” interest”.
How Much is Available
The amount you receive for your maritime pre-settlement loan depends on various factors related to your claim, such as how much you need, how much compensation you’re expected to win, and the length of time the case is expected to last.
As a general rule, maritime lawsuit loans are limited to 10%-15% of the estimated settlement value of the case. This value is subjectively determined by our experienced lawsuit funding underwriters. However, we tend to be conservative in our estimation. An expected settlement value and the ultimate settlement value of your case is more often than not, very different.
How is the Maritime Lawsuit Advance Repaid
A maritime lawsuit loan is repaid at the time of disbursement. Disbursement is the time when your attorney, who is already in possession of your settlement proceeds, pays the lien holders on the file. Those include the law firm itself but can also include lawsuit funding payoffs, medical liens, workers’ compensation liens, case expenses and others.
Getting Started with Lawsuit Funding
The process of obtaining a maritime pre-settlement loan through Fair Rate Funding is very simple.
- Call us or fill out the Quick Application on this web page.
- We will contact you the same day to discuss your case.
- With your approval, we discuss your case with your attorney.
- When your case is approved for funding, we forward a contract for your signature.
- Upon receipt, we overnight your cash or wire the money directly into your bank account.
Fair Rate Funding is not just the best lawsuit funding company. Our rates for lawsuit cash advances are among the lowest in the business.
Give us a call today and talk to us. We are here to help and are at your service.
