At Barnett, Lerner, Karsen & Frankel, P.A., we represent injured workers covered under the Defense Base Act (DBA), longshoremen under the Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act, crew members under the Jones Act, and workers protected under state workers’ compensation laws. Coverage for Civilian Contractors The DBA extends Longshore protections to civilian contractors injured while working overseas. Benefits include medical …

Haiti is on the verge of “total chaos” as coordinated gang violence continues to escalate, the UN’s top Haitian envoy warned on Monday, April 21, 2025. Special Representative María Isabel Salvador told ambassadors in the Security Council that a “deliberate and coordinated” campaign is being waged by organized crime groups to expand territorial control and paralyze the capital, Port-au-Prince.   Recent …

The first of thousands of Marines currently stationed on Okinawa Island may take up residence in their new digs in Guam as early as June 2025, according to a base spokesperson. Maj. Diann Rosenfeld said that “current planning efforts support the commander’s priority to begin moving Marines and Sailors into the barracks aboard the Main Cantonment,” she wrote. “The barracks …

A prominent scholar is one of the first voices to sound the alarm over China’s growing and unregulated military presence in Africa. “Domestic laws in China lack jurisdiction over mercenaries operating abroad, and the enforceability of international laws remains a formidable challenge,” according to Habib al-Badawi, a professor at Lebanese University. “The absence of a robust regulatory framework raises concerns …

For our purposes, the most important thing the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act does is extend the workers’ compensation benefits in the Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act to employees who work on the outer continental shelf. Most of these individuals work in energy exploration and production, two of the most hazardous industries in terms of workplace injuries. However, this …

In March 2025, the House of Representatives passed a continuing resolution to keep the government funded. That CR eliminates $22.8 billion in burn pit and toxic exposure injury benefits.  The six-month government spending package, which largely holds federal spending at fiscal year 2024 levels, would cut the Toxic Exposures Fund (TEF) for the VA next year. The controversial fund was …

From 1953 to 1987, contaminated drinking water at Camp Lejeune, a U.S. Marine Corps base in North Carolina, exposed hundreds of thousands of people to harmful toxins. Two of the base’s eight wells—serving Hadnot Point and Tarawa Terrace—were tainted with chemicals known to cause cancer and other severe illnesses. These contaminated systems supplied water for everyday activities such as drinking, …

On March 26, 2025, authorities arrested multiple suspected ISIS members in a series of well-coordinated raids executed throughout the country. Carried out in coordination with ground forces, the directorate conducted operations in al-Anbar, Kirkuk, and Nineveh, leading to the capture of seven suspected ISIS members, an official statement confirmed. Security forces reportedly set up ambushes and raided militant hideouts, resulting …

A meeting which probably would have focused on the refugee crisis was cancelled at the last minute due to “concrete warnings by German security authorities of a terrorist threat.” Germany’s Nancy Faeser had planned to visit Damascus with Austrian counterpart Gerhard Karner, and a German military plane was supposed to fly Faeser’s delegation into Syria from Jordan on Thursday morning, …

President Donald Trump plans to expel millions of immigrants in the United States without proper documentation. Private military companies say they are available to help, for the right price. In March 2025, Academi head Erik Prince put together a memo and logistics plan to help the Trump administration deport millions of people. He said that if the Trump administration wants …

For many years, doctors believed that Post Traumatic Stress Disorder randomly affected some people who went through extremely stressful situations. Although the latest science has clearly debunked that idea, many doctors still cling to the old ways. Extreme stress causes a chemical imbalance in the brain, much like a loud noise, like an explosive blast, causes a traumatic brain injury …

Thousands of people live at a strategically vital military base that has a controversial past. Most people know nothing about this base or its past. In the words of Robert Kaplan, the Indian Ocean will be “center stage for the twenty-first century.” “Like a microcosm of the world at large, the greater Indian Ocean region is developing into an area …