Boating Accidents in Florida Waters: Your Legal Rights After a Collision, Capsizing, or Jet Ski Crash

Florida has roughly a million registered vessels, more than any other state, and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission reports hundreds of boating accidents and dozens of deaths every year, consistently the most in the nation. The Intracoastal, the inlets, the Everglades canals and the offshore reefs are busiest from spring through summer, and that is when collisions, groundings, falls overboard and jet ski crashes spike. Boating injury claims follow rules that differ from car accidents in important ways. Here is what you need to know.

Why boating accidents happen

• Operator inexperience and inattention: failure to keep a proper lookout is the leading cause
• Excessive speed in crowded channels, no-wake zones and near swimmers
• Alcohol: boating under the influence (BUI) carries the same 0.08 standard as DUI, and sun, wind and motion amplify alcohol’s effects
• Equipment failure: steering, throttle, navigation lights, bilge pumps
• Overloading and improper weight distribution, leading to capsizing
• Inadequate safety equipment, including life jackets and fire extinguishers
• Weather and sea conditions ignored by the operator
• Propeller strikes to swimmers and people in the water

What Florida law requires of boat operators

Florida’s boating statutes (Chapter 327) require operators to maintain a safe speed, keep a proper lookout, follow the navigation rules, and operate without reckless or careless disregard for others. Operators born on or after January 1, 1988 must carry a boating safety education card to operate a vessel of 10 horsepower or more. Children under six must wear a life jacket on vessels under 26 feet while underway. Operators involved in an accident with injury, death, disappearance or significant property damage must stop, render aid and report the accident to the FWC or law enforcement. Violations of these rules are evidence of negligence in a civil claim.

Who may be liable

• The operator who was speeding, impaired, distracted or inattentive
• The vessel owner, who may be responsible for entrusting the boat to an unqualified or impaired operator, or for failing to maintain it
• Rental and charter companies that provided a defective vessel, inadequate safety equipment or no instruction, or that rented to someone they should not have
• Manufacturers of defective boats, engines, steering systems, propellers and personal watercraft
• Marinas and tour operators that failed in their own duties
• Other vessels in a collision

State law or federal maritime law?

This is where boating cases differ from car cases. Accidents on navigable waters may be governed by federal general maritime law rather than, or in addition to, Florida law. That can change the available damages, the comparative fault rules, the deadline to file, and even the court where the case is heard. Vessel owners sometimes invoke the federal Limitation of Liability Act to try to cap their exposure at the value of the boat, and the response to that filing is time-sensitive. Crew members injured on commercial vessels have separate remedies under the Jones Act. An attorney who handles boating cases will sort out which rules apply before the other side does.

Jet skis and personal watercraft

Personal watercraft are involved in a disproportionate share of Florida boating injuries. Rental operators must provide required safety equipment and instruction, and renters under certain ages face additional requirements. Rental agreements often contain liability waivers; whether a waiver is enforceable depends on its wording and on whether the operator’s own negligence caused the injury. Do not assume a signed waiver ends your claim.

What to do after a boating accident

1. Get everyone out of the water and get medical attention. Head injuries, propeller wounds and near-drownings need evaluation even if the person seems fine.
2. Make sure the accident is reported to the FWC, the sheriff’s marine unit or the Coast Guard. The report is the foundation of the claim.
3. Photograph the vessels, the damage, the equipment, the conditions and your injuries.
4. Get names and contact information for everyone aboard every vessel involved and any witnesses on shore or nearby.
5. Preserve the vessel and equipment if you control it; do not repair it until it has been inspected.
6. Keep the rental agreement, charter contract and any waiver you signed.
7. Do not give a recorded statement to any insurer or sign a release.
8. Call a lawyer promptly. Deadlines may be as short as two years, and maritime filings can require action within months.

What a boating injury claim can recover

Medical expenses, lost income and earning capacity, pain and suffering, disfigurement, and in fatal accidents the damages Florida’s Wrongful Death Act or maritime law provides to the family. Where the operator was drunk or grossly reckless, punitive damages may be available.

Talk to a firm that handles cases on the water

Boating accident claims move differently from car accident claims, and the early decisions matter. Call The Injury Advocates at (754) 812-8444 or 833-DARFOOR, or send us a message. The consultation is free, and you owe no fees or costs unless we recover for you. Learn more about our boating accident practice and our drowning accident cases.