A Lawyer Can Help You File a Boat Accident Lawsuit

A boating accident could lead to severe medical bills or financial burdens, even bankruptcy. An attorney can help get you the compensation you're due.

In general, you can seek damages by proving that a person or entity has a duty of care and violated it, leading to your injuries. There are four primary elements to an effective lawsuit over a boating accident:

Damages

Boat accident victims are entitled, as do other victims of personal injury to compensation for their losses. These damages include medical expenses, lost earnings and future earning potential and property damage emotional distress, suffering and pain.

The amount a jury awards will be contingent on the severity of your injuries and how long you will need to recover from them. Catastrophic injuries tend to lead to larger settlements and jury awards. They might include traumatic brain injury spinal cord injuries and permanent disfigurement.

It could be difficult to determine who should be held responsible for the boating accident. Your attorney will determine the reason for the incident and determine who that may be responsible for your loss. This could include the owner of the vessel and any other boat operators or anyone else who was on board at the time of the accident.

In certain cases, it may be possible to sue the boat's maker when it is established that the defective component was responsible for your injury. This is known as product liability, and falls under the same laws as auto manufacturers. It is crucial to speak with an attorney as soon as possible when you're considering pursuing this kind of claim. The lawyer can guide you through the process and ensure that all damages eligible are awarded.

Liability

It is important to recognize that, like a car accident the lawsuit for a boating incident must prove four elements to be successful. This includes proving a defense's duty to pay, breach of duty, actual damages and causation. This is not an easy task, and it requires the skill of a seasoned personal injury lawyer.

Unsuspecting and negligent behavior can lead to boating accidents. Like the normal rules of the road and boating, there are safety rules to be adhered to. If the accident was the result of drunkenness or use of drugs or boat accident use, they could be accountable. It is important to keep in mind that boating activities require a high degree of awareness and concentration due to the erratic nature of weather and water conditions.

In a successful boating accident case, the victim can recover compensation for their losses and costs. These costs comprise direct medical bills loss of wages due to working hours missed as well as property damage, pain and suffering, and many more. If you have health insurance, they usually cover some of these expenses as well. This is especially relevant to maritime workers who have access through the Jones Act to compensation, which is a law dating back to the 1800s that offers injured maritime workers the same path to recovery to workers compensation.

Preparation

Compensation for damages can help families deal with the financial burdens that come with their losses. As with car accidents, boat collisions typically involve multiple parties who may share responsibility for the incident, making it necessary to seek knowledgeable legal counsel in seeking compensation.

Usually, victims of boat accidents can get the same kinds of damages as they would in a lawsuit involving a car accident which includes damage to property, medical costs and lost wages resulting from time lost at work. They may also seek compensation for emotional trauma, pain and suffering, and also loss of enjoyment of their lives.

There are a variety of factors that can cause a boating accident, but many times the person or company is responsible for an accident that occurs on the waterway as a result of their negligence. Common defendants are the boat owner, the boat owner, or if the accident occurred when the victim was on commercial vessels, the employer of that person.

In certain instances an employee on a boat accident law firm can claim workers' compensation if they are injured in an accident, but this is typically an independent process from filing an injury claim in the event of the same incident.

Filing

It doesn't matter if you have a lavish yacht or a humble fishing boat, a serious boating accident can be catastrophic. An experienced lawyer can help with obtaining compensation for your losses.

Similar to car accidents the person who is injured in a boating accident may bring a personal injury lawsuit against the party responsible for the accident to claim damages. A successful claim could pay for medical expenses as well as lost income, discomfort and pain, and other financial losses resulting from the incident. The severity of your injuries will determine how much you are owed by the defendant. For example, a victim who suffers a brain injury traumatic or a severe spinal cord injury is likely to face substantial medical bills and a loss of future earning capacity.

A plaintiff must prove negligence and the causation. This means that the defendant breached their obligation to exercise reasonable care in order to avoid harming others on the water and it was the sole cause of your injuries. Some examples of violations include driving a boat intoxicated or recklessly losing control of a vessel, or not allowing enough space for other vessels.

An experienced attorney will evaluate the evidence and determine who is at fault for your accident. They can also negotiate with the insurance company of the defendant and other legal counsel on behalf of you. If a settlement cannot be reached, your case will go to trial, at which point the jury will make a final decision on liability and damages.