Who Can Be Held Liable for a Boating Accident in Florida?

There’s no better way to enjoy Florida’s fine weather and beautiful waterways than on a boat, but if you’re injured in a boating accident that was caused by someone else’s negligence, the losses you experience can be overwhelming. Determining who is liable for your legal damages is a critical aspect of your boating accident claim, and an experienced Florida boating accident attorney can help you with that.

The Person Driving the Boat

Often, boating accidents are the result of negligence on the part of the person who is manning the vessel, which can come in the same forms as negligence behind the wheel of a car, including distraction, impairment, and excess speed. When this is the case, the boat’s skipper can be held liable for the legal damages – or physical, financial, and emotional losses – you suffer.

The same is true when a boat’s owner allows someone else to take their boat out, and that person proceeds to injure others as a result of their own negligence. In these cases, those injured can seek just compensation for all the following losses through the boat owner’s liability coverage:

• Property damage to your boat and its contents, such as if someone manning another boat crashes into you on yours
• Your medical expenses, including long-term healthcare needs
• Your lost income, including any losses related to your earning power
• Your physical and emotional pain and suffering, which can outpace your other losses combined

The Boat’s Required Safety Gear

A boat’s owner – or the person manning the boat – can also be held responsible when injuries are caused by a failure to have required safety gear on board. In Florida, these requirements include:

• Each person on the boat must have a personal flotation device that is Coast Guard approved, in good working condition, and readily available to them.
• All boats that are at least 16 feet long must have daytime visual distress signals on board.
• Every boat must carry the required number of fire extinguishers, which is based on the vessel’s size.

The Boat’s Manufacturer

If the boating accident is caused by a faulty boat part or by a boat’s faulty design, the boat’s manufacturer can be held responsible for the covered losses incurred. These product liability claims fall into three basic categories that include:

• Defects that are the result of faulty design
• Defects that are the result of faulty manufacture
• Accidents that are caused by failure to provide the necessary warnings or adequate instructions for the consumer good in question

Some boating accident claims address shared liability, such as if the person manning the vessel was negligent and the issue was made worse by a faulty boat part or by the boat’s faulty design.

An Experienced Florida Boating Accident Attorney Can Help

The formidable Florida boating accident attorneys at Mickey Keenan P.A. are committed to bringing your strongest claim against the at-fault party who left you injured in an accident on the water, and we’ll spare no effort in the process. Your claim is important, so please don’t wait to contact us online or call 813-669-5471 for more information today.