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Matt Shaffer recently filed a lawsuit on behalf of his client injured in a maritime accident. The client was employed as a roustabout for Anadarko Petroleum Corporation and at the time of the incident, was working as a crewmember on a drilling ship that was owned and operated by Noble Drilling Services, Inc. The worker was thrown from an upper bunk that was not equipped with rails or other fall protection. The client sustained serious back injuries. Shaffer is claiming Anadarko and Noble Drilling were negligent in providing a safe work environment for their employees.

SMSH attorneys, Matthew D. Shaffer and Laura De La Cruz, recently negotiated a confidential settlement for a vessel-based tankerman. The tankerman suffered severe head and neck injuries after a large ceiling shop fan fell and struck him while he was checking equipment in a barge pump room.

In a bench trial held in a New Orleans federal court, Attorney Matthew D. Shaffer obtained a $1.13M award for his client, a 48 year old father and husband from Fluker, Louisiana. The victory came after months of litigation stemming from a piece of equipment falling on Rodney Watson. His employer, Weeks Marine, Inc., refused to offer any money to settle the claim before trial.

Schechter, McElwee, Shaffer & Harris recently settled the claim of a foreign seaman working for the Caribbean subsidiary of a Texas company for a confidential amount.

A U.S. District Court extended the deadline to file all claims related to the sinking of S.S. El Faro by 90 days. This extension gives the family members of the victims until February 16, 2016 to evaluate and file their claims.

On September 29, 2015, the S.S. El Faro set sail from Jacksonville, Fl. in a final voyage that ended in the death of all 33 crew members. Anticipating costly litigation from the families affected by this tragedy, the ship's owner, Tote Maritime, filed a Limitation of Liability complaint with a federal court in Florida.

The U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida has ordered all persons asserting claims related to the sinking of the S.S. El Faro to file their respective claims with that court by December 21, 2015. Failure to comply with the strict deadline may result in a claim being defaulted or barred.

Schechter, McElwee, Shaffer & Harris' (SMSH) attorneys Arthur Schechter and Cynthia Huerta along with the Weycer Law Firm were retained by a 29-year-old wife and mother, Laura, who was raped while heavily sedated at Ben Taub Hospital by a former doctor.

All four partners at Houston personal injury law firm Schechter, McElwee, Shaffer & Harris have been named Texas Super Lawyers for 2015.

A body found Aug. 6 in the Mississippi River has been identified as a man who has been missing since a barge capsized last year.