The TV lawyer running ads on the radio between Lucedale and Moss Point has never set foot in a federal longshore hearing room. He does not know what the Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act is. He has never filed a claim with the U.S. Department of Labor. He has never stood in front of an Administrative Law Judge in the New Orleans district. He knows how to answer a 1-800 number, get you to sign a contract, and hand your file to a secretary. He does not know the federal system that governs your claim, and neither does his secretary. But the carrier’s adjuster does. That gap is money out of your pocket from day one.

George County workers drive to Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula every morning. They drive to Bollinger Mississippi Shipbuilding on Bayou Casotte. Some cross into Alabama and work at the Port of Mobile, at shipyards along the Mobile River, and at the Gulf Coast waterfront operations that run from Chickasaw to Theodore. Whether the job is in Pascagoula, Mobile, or anywhere on navigable water in between, if you are doing maritime work at a covered situs you are in the federal longshore system. George County does not govern your claim. The Mississippi Workers Compensation Commission does not govern your claim. A federal judge in Covington, Louisiana does.

I am Jay Foster. I have practiced law on the Mississippi Gulf Coast since 1994. I know the Covington district. I know the Administrative Law Judges who hear these cases. I know the carriers who defend them. And I am the only lawyer in Mississippi who guarantees in writing, before we start, that you put more money in your pocket than I do. Every case. No exceptions.

George County Workers Drive To Ingalls Every Morning. The Carrier Is Waiting For One Of Them To Get Hurt.

Huntington Ingalls Industries employs more than eleven thousand people at its Ingalls Shipbuilding facility in Pascagoula. It is the largest manufacturing employer in Mississippi. The workers who build destroyers, amphibious assault ships, and Coast Guard cutters at that yard come from across the region, and a significant number of them live in George County. Highway 63 south from Lucedale. Highway 26 from Benndale to Moss Point. These are the roads that connect George County to the federal system that governs what happens when a shipyard worker gets hurt.

Bollinger Mississippi Shipbuilding handles both defense and commercial vessel construction on Bayou Casotte. The workers there are covered under the same federal law. The carriers defending those claims have been in the Covington hearing room hundreds of times. They know which lawyers have been there too and which ones are pretending. When your file shows up with the name of a lawyer who has never tried one of these federal cases, the carrier’s posture on your claim changes immediately. The number they decide to offer changes. The pressure they decide to apply changes. The outcome changes. Because they know nobody is coming to that hearing.

George County Workers At The Port Of Mobile And The Alabama Waterfront

The Port of Mobile is one of the busiest ports on the Gulf Coast. Workers from George County cross into Alabama every day to work at the port, at the shipyards along the Mobile River, and at the marine industrial facilities that stretch from Chickasaw through Theodore. The Alabama State Docks. BAE Systems Ship Repair in Mobile. Signal International at the Theodore Industrial Park. These are covered employers under the Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act.

The LHWCA applies regardless of which state the injury occurred in. A George County worker hurt at the Port of Mobile has a federal longshore claim, not an Alabama workers’ compensation claim. A George County worker hurt at a Mobile shipyard doing covered maritime work has a federal longshore claim. The claim is filed with the U.S. Department of Labor and heard in the New Orleans district. Alabama law does not govern it. Mississippi law does not govern it. Federal law governs it, and the carrier defending it has a team that knows federal law cold.

Most George County workers who get hurt at a Mobile employer never learn that the LHWCA might apply to their injury. They call a lawyer in Alabama, file an Alabama workers’ compensation claim, and settle for whatever the Alabama system produces. Alabama workers’ comp has different benefit levels, different medical rules, and a different procedural structure than the LHWCA. In many cases the federal benefits are significantly better. The injured worker who never asks the question is the one who gets the Alabama answer when the federal answer was available the whole time.

The Carrier Has Been Building Its File Since The Morning You Got Hurt

The moment the incident report hits the carrier’s system, an adjuster opens a file with your name on it. He has processed hundreds of LHWCA claims. He knows the deadlines. He knows the benefit formula. He knows the medical arguments that minimize permanent impairment ratings. He has a list of physicians whose reports consistently serve the carrier’s financial interest. He has a recorded statement request ready. And he knows before he reads your file whether the lawyer on the other side has ever been in that Covington hearing room.

That assessment drives everything. The carrier’s offer. The carrier’s posture. The carrier’s willingness to fight or settle. None of that is about what your case is worth under federal law. It is about what the carrier thinks it can get away with based on who is on your side of the file.

When I am on your side of that file, the calculation changes. The carrier knows I have been in that hearing room. They know the threat is real. That shift in their posture is worth more to you than most injured workers ever understand, and it only happens when the lawyer on your side has actually tried these cases.

Five Things That Kill George County Longshore Claims Before They Start

The first is giving the carrier a recorded statement before talking to a lawyer. The adjuster will call it routine. It is not routine for you. Every word in that statement can be used against you at a federal hearing. You are not required to give it. Do not give it to anyone before finding a lawyer who has been in that hearing room.

The second is not knowing whether the LHWCA applies at all. Workers at covered maritime employers doing covered work on navigable waters or adjoining areas are in the federal system. Workers at the same employer doing land-based support work may be in state workers’ compensation instead. Getting this wrong at the start is the kind of mistake that cannot always be corrected. Ask the question before you file anything.

The third is letting the carrier pick your doctors without understanding your rights. The carrier has the right to direct your initial treatment under the LHWCA. That does not mean their doctor is your doctor. You have rights regarding your own physician. The timing and mechanics of asserting those rights are strategic decisions that shape the medical record your entire case is built on. A wrong move here costs you for the life of the claim.

The fourth is hiring a lawyer who cannot go to the hearing. Ask any lawyer you talk to directly: have you personally appeared in front of a federal Administrative Law Judge in the New Orleans district of the U.S. Department of Labor on a Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act case? A direct yes with specifics is the only acceptable answer. A dodge is a no.

The fifth is waiting. The LHWCA has a two-year statute of limitations from the date of injury or the date you knew or should have known the injury was work-related. Evidence disappears fast. The carrier’s file builds itself every day without any effort on their part. Yours requires active work starting now.

The Foster Fair Fee Guarantee

I am the only lawyer on the Gulf Coast who puts this in your contract and means it: you will put more money in your pocket than I put in mine. Every case. No exceptions. That is the Foster Fair Fee Guarantee, in writing on day one. The TV lawyer will not match it because his business model does not allow it. When your recovery has to exceed my fee on every case I take, I have a contractual reason to fight for the maximum the law allows. That is a different alignment of interests than anything the settlement mill offers.

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The $5,000 Double Dare No TV Lawyer Has Ever Collected

I will pay you $2,500 cash if the TV lawyer whose face is on the billboard personally handles your longshore case from the first call to the final check. Every phone call. Every hearing appearance. Every filing. Personally. I will pay you another $2,500 if that same TV lawyer personally argues your case in front of a federal Administrative Law Judge in the New Orleans district of the U.S. Department of Labor.

Nobody has ever collected. Because it never happens. The carrier’s team knows it. That is why every file that comes in from a TV firm gets a lowball number from day one.

P.S. The carrier handling your claim has worked longshore cases in this federal system for years. The TV lawyer you are thinking about calling has worked zero. The free book is where the comparison starts.

P.P.S. The Foster Fair Fee Guarantee is in your contract in writing on day one. You put more money in your pocket than I do. Every case. No exceptions.