Corpus Christi Jones Act Attorney

Injured in an offshore accident? Call our firm.

The team at Arnold & Itkin LLP represents offshore workers from Corpus Christi who have been injured on oil platforms and jack-up rigs along the Gulf Coast. We also assist longshoremen, shipyard workers, dock workers and various other maritime workers who have been injured while working at the Port of Corpus Christi. We represent seamen and maritime workers of all kinds throughout the entire state and nationwide. If you are looking for experienced legal help after an offshore accident caused you injury or left you without a loved one, do not hesitate in calling our offices.

A Corpus Christi offshore injury lawyer at our firm can provide you with the level of legal guidance that truly makes a difference in your ability to make the right choices about your maritime claim early on in the process, before your employer has the chance to take advantage of you. We handle cases under the Jones Act and general maritime law and can address such issues as maintenance and cure benefits, negligence and liability and unseaworthiness.

You may have been injured in a deck accident or may have been working on an oil platform when another crew member's inexperience or carelessness caused a serious accident. A well blowout may have caused a fire or explosion that claimed a family member's life. No matter the circumstances surrounding your case, you can count on our knowledgeable offshore injury attorneys to provide accurate information and guidance.

Corpus Christi: A Profile

Corpus Christi, Texas is a coastal port city in the southern part of Texas, with shoreline on the coast of the western Gulf of Mexico. Corpus Christi is the county seat of Nueces County, Texas but actually spills over into Aransas, Kleberg, and San Patricio counties as well. The 2008 U.S. Census Bureau estimate shows the population of Corpus Christi as 285,462, making it the 8th largest city in Texas.

Almost 500 years ago, on the Roman Catholic Feast Day of Corpus Christi, which means "Body of Christ," a Spanish explorer named Alonzo Alvarez de Pineda arrived in what he described as a lush, semi-tropical bay setting. In 1847 the area took the name of that feast day for its own as the destination name for a U.S. Mail service postmark. On September 9, 1852, the city was incorporated with that name. The area was first settled as a frontier trading post in the late 1830s by Colonel Henry Lawrence Kinney as Kinney's Trading Post. The area became most significant in 1945 when U.S. Troops, under General Zachary Taylor, set up a military outpost for the War with Mexico. The Port of Corpus Christi was opened in 1926 and the Corpus Christi Naval Air Station was commissioned in 1941.

Corpus Christi is the Texas coast's largest city. Major industries include petrochemical and agricultural businesses. Those industries and a military presence feed the city's shipping and port operations. Other contributors to the local economy are tourism and health care, retail product sales, manufacturing and distribution. The city also has a strong and much admired educational system. Corpus Christi has grown into a regional hub for marketing, processing, packaging and distribution of the agricultural commodities of a 12-county wide trading area.

The Port of Corpus Christi

One key to the Corpus Christi economic success story is its port. The Port of Corpus Christi is the sixth largest port in the United States. The 45-foot depth along its wide and straight canal provides fast direct access to the Gulf, the United States inland waterway system and the seas of the world beyond. There is no type of cargo that the Corpus Christi Port is not efficiently equipped for. Having a variety of cold storage, grain elevators, bulk dry and bulk liquid facilities as well as a massive industrial park with plenty of room for on-site processors and value-added operations provide for an in-out and off-to-market process in one place. The port is a world class facility with its own navigation district and political subdivision.

On the International trade scene, the Port of Corpus Christi was the first port to sign a strategic memorandum of understanding with ALIMPORT, the government purchasing agency for Cuba. Since 2003, 50,000 tons of Red-Winter wheat, 30,000 tons of Montana bagged beans, and 20,000 tons of frozen poultry have been shipped to Havana through this port. The Port of Corpus Christi recently completed the Joe Fulton International Trade Corridor, which opens up 4.5 miles of undeveloped channel frontage for industrial use such as the warehousing of wind-turbine parts for alternative energy projects now being built in the Gulf of Mexico. Plans to deepen the channel to 52 feet to accommodate larger vessels and add barge shelves across Corpus Christi Bay to improve navigational safety have recently been coordinated with the Army Corps of Engineers.

The Port of Corpus Christi provides equally impressive land transportation access with in-port direct connections to three Class I railroads and the nationwide interstate and state highway system. These assets are expedited with facilities for dockside truck and rail access with the most modern drayage equipment available and skilled labor trained in the art of large and heavy cargo handling. Corpus Christi houses the Corpus Christi International Airport. About 46 percent of the air traffic from there is military, and 28 percent of the flights are hired air taxi and helicopter traffic.

The Port of Corpus Christi has been a strategic deployment seaport for U.S. military forces since 1997. The economic impact of this facility is an important asset to the local economy. The Port of Corpus Christi Authority is currently undertaking a project with the Department of Defense to develop and construct a Surge Sealift Homeport on Corpus Christi Bay at a port-owned site adjacent to Naval Station Ingleside. This location would enhance protection of these strategic assets and provide easy access to the open sea. The facility would serve as a deployment training center for strategic port operators on the Texas Gulf Coast. Such a facility would enhance military readiness without any additional cost to the Department of Defense and be a boon to the Corpus Christi Port.

Find out more about your rights as a seaman or maritime worker. Contact a Corpus Christi offshore injury attorney today.