Louisiana Riverboat Accident Lawyers
Riverboat Accident Claims in New Orleans, Jefferson Parish & Beyond
Louisiana's riverboats come in several forms. Excursion steamboats take visitors out from the New Orleans riverfront. Overnight river cruise ships, including those operated by American Cruise Lines and Viking, sail the Mississippi from the city. Riverboat casinos operate around the state, including in Jefferson Parish. The one thing these riverboats have in common is that every one of them is a workplace for its crew and a place where the public expects to be safe.
Clayton, Frugé & Ward represents riverboat workers and passengers who were hurt because an owner or operator did not do its job. Our Louisiana riverboat accident attorneys have extensive experience handling complex personal injury and work accident cases. We are here to provide the compassionate support and advocacy you need.
Call (225) 209-9943 or contact us online for a free consultation.
Riverboat Crews Are Maritime Workers
People tend to think of maritime workers as deckhands and engineers. On a riverboat, the crew also includes cooks, bartenders, housekeepers, and musicians, and many of them live aboard. A worker who contributes to the vessel's mission and spends a substantial part of the job on board can qualify as a “seaman.”
Seaman status matters. Under the Jones Act, a seaman can sue an employer for negligence. A seaman is also owed maintenance and cure, which covers living expenses and medical treatment during recovery, and can bring a claim when the vessel itself was unsafe. Workers who come aboard only to repair or service the boat are usually covered by the Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act or by state workers' compensation.
What a Fire on a Docked Steamboat Showed
On May 3, 2022, a fire broke out in the engine room of the passenger vessel Natchez while it was moored in New Orleans and out of service for an overhaul. A deckhand standing security watch saw the smoke and flames. Thankfully, nobody was injured, but the damage came to $1.5 million.
The National Transportation Safety Board traced the fire to hot work done near cardboard boxes, wooden shelves, and other things that burn. It found that contractor and vessel personnel had failed to identify those materials and move or protect them, and that "neither the vessel owner nor the hot work contractor had a written safety policy or procedures."
The implications of this finding can be important to anyone hurt on a riverboat. Responsibility can sit with the owner, with a contractor performing work, like welding or cutting, aboard, or both. A boat that is tied up for repairs is still a dangerous place to work.
Passengers Are Owed Reasonable Care
A riverboat's operator owes its passengers reasonable care. That covers the gangway they board on, the condition of decks and stairs, the training of the crew, and the plan for getting everyone off in an emergency. Passengers can be seriously hurt in falls, in fires, when a boat lands hard or runs aground, or when someone goes over a rail into a river with a strong current. A drowning or near-drowning from a passenger vessel is generally treated as a maritime claim, and it is handled differently from a similar accident that occurs on land.
How Long Do Passengers Have to File a Riverboat Injury Claim?
If you bought a ticket, read it. Federal law lets the operator of a passenger vessel shorten your deadlines in the ticket contract, but only so far: it cannot require notice of your claim in "less than 6 months" or require you to sue in "less than one year." For certain smaller passenger vessels, both minimums are two years. Without a clause like that, the general deadline for a maritime injury claim is three years.
When a Riverboat Is Struck at the Dock
On November 13, 2026, a tanker struck the river cruise ship American Heritage while it was docked at the Port of New Orleans, according to the Port's statement reported by WDSU. About 129 passengers were aboard.
When a moving vessel hits a moored one, maritime law presumes the moving vessel was at fault. People on the struck boat can have a claim against the owner of the ship that hit them, which we explain on our tanker accident page. Crew members may also keep their claims against their own employer, depending on the circumstances.
Is a Casino Boat a Vessel?
The answer decides which law applies. A casino that is permanently moored and no longer sails may not count as a "vessel" under maritime law, and Louisiana courts have ruled that way about some dockside casinos. If the boat is not a vessel, an injured employee's claim usually falls under state workers' compensation, and a guest's claim falls under Louisiana law on unsafe premises. If it is a vessel, the Jones Act and general maritime law may apply.
Our Louisiana riverboat accident lawyers can look at how the particular boat is moored and used, then provide insights into how your case may proceed.
Owners Can Ask a Court to Cap Their Liability
A vessel owner may go to federal court and ask to limit what it owes to "the value of the vessel and pending freight." That protection applies only when the accident happened without the owner's "privity or knowledge." Missing safety procedures, skipped maintenance, and untrained crew are owner-level failures, and proving them is how a limitation claim is defeated.
Speak With Our Louisiana Riverboat Accident Lawyers at No Cost
Clayton, Frugé & Ward handles maritime injury cases across Louisiana from our offices in Port Allen and New Orleans, including for clients in Metairie and the rest of Jefferson Parish. Our partners include former prosecutors, and we prepare all cases for trial.
We work on a contingency fee basis, so you owe us nothing unless we recover compensation for you.
If you were injured on a riverboat as a worker or a passenger, schedule your free consultation by calling (225) 209-9943.