Injured in a Boating Accident During Summer Vacation?

boating accidentPersonal injury claims can result from boating accidents but, like other types of claims, you must be able to prove that the owner of the boat violated a duty of care through negligence. In some cases, an individual may suffer an injury in a boating accident, even though no one was at fault. The key factor is in proving that the injury was suffered as a result of negligence.

Common Ways That Boating Accidents Result from Negligence

To understand how a personal injury claim can result from a boating accident, it’s first important to learn what Florida courts consider to be negligence. In fact, negligence can be an act or the absence of an act, which results in harm. Essentially, negligence is the failure to behave with the same care that the average person would exercise in that same situation. Negligence often depends on the facts of the situation and, for that reason, can vary from case to case. But there are some common types of boating accidents that can result from negligent acts. They include:

  • Boat on boat collisions;
  • Boat strikes a wake or wave; and
  • Boat strikes an immovable object, such as submerged rocks, land, or a dock.

 What are Typical Boating Accident Injuries?

A boating accident can result in a variety of injuries, though the damages an individual suffers will depend on the type and severity of the accident. In the most serious of cases, people can suffer traumatic brain injuries or spinal injuries as a result of boating accidents. These are very severe injuries, which require extensive medical treatment and often necessitate long-term therapy to recover. In some cases, the individual may never be returned to their former state of health.

Other injuries may include broken bones or torn ligaments. These injuries will also require significant medical treatments that could require time away from work, hospitalization, and physical therapy. There may also be strains or sprains that recover additional time to heal. In some cases, an injury may result in a permanent disability.

Whatever injuries you suffer, they will result in extensive medical bills and a significant loss of wages, due to time missed from work. Tampa personal injury lawyers may also be able to help you recover damages for pain and suffering and damages for your lost earning capacity, where your injuries will prevent you from returning to your career. If you have been involved in a boating accident and have been injured, the best thing you can do for yourself is to consult a personal injury lawyer with experience in boating accident claims. Wagner, McLaughlin & Whittemore has extensive experience in boating-negligence cases and would be happy to consult with you. Call us today at 813.225.4000.