In 1920, the Merchant Seaman Protection and Relief Act was passed to offer workers compensation and protect injured longshoreman, seaman and other maritime workers. This act is also known as the Longshore Harbor Workers Compensation Act and it handles, with the aide of expatriate compensation and defense base act attorneys, 27,000 cases annually. These cases are any form of disability, illness or death that is covered under the Longshore Harbor Workers Compensation Act. The maritime claims generally refer to and represent the claims followed under the longshore and harbor workers compensation act, by oil platforms, cargo ships, boats and all variety of seafaring vessels. According to the Longshore Harbor Workers Compensation Act, contractors made up the bulk of maritime contractors in Afghanistan and Iraq in 2011. Of all these contractors, Dba lawyers state that death benefits are a special circumstance in which funeral expenses up to $3,000 are added to the average weekly wage benefit provided to the survivor.