Have you or a loved one been injured from a boat accident? If so, read these 4 boat accident facts, then call our Hamburg lawyers today.
Personal Injury on a Boat
With the weather finally breaking, people are out and about taking advantage of our great lakes, and having fun on their boats – or their friends’ boats. Unfortunately, people are sometimes injured in boating accidents. When that happens, they want to know, “Can I bring a claim? Who’s that claim against?” The answer is, “Yes, you can.” In the past, we’ve had clients who have been seriously injured on boats when a driver was intoxicated while operating that boat or someone was negligent in the way they operated their boat – perhaps because they were not adequately trained or skilled in operating that particular vessel. You do have a claim for negligence against the owner and/or the operator of a boat when you’re injured on it.
Strict deadlines apply with respect to obtaining benefits pursuant to no-fault. When someone suffers boating injuries, it is especially important to consult with an attorney for this reason.
Watercraft Accident Injuries
In watercraft accidents, you can see a myriad of injuries. There are all sorts of issues with boats. Sometimes people get ejected from boats. They end up having concussions or serious head injuries. Some really terrible accidents are related with propellers and people getting entangled and things. We’ve seen situations where people are ejected from boats and hit other boats or hit other objects in the waterway. You can see a myriad of injuries, from simple fractures to unfortunate cases where people are killed.
Boating Accident Claim
A boating accident report should be filed as soon as possible with the responsible agency. Sometimes on smaller lakes they’re patrolled by sheriffs and you want to report it to the sheriff’s department right away. The sheriff’s department for Lake Erie does a lot of the investigation, so you want to make sure that they’re put on notice, and you should file your accident report as soon as possible.
You have an obligation as a boater to make sure that it’s filed properly and that people are put on notice of the accident. Those reports serve a purpose down the road in identifying owners of boats, and things of that nature, if there are claims in the future.
Boat Accident Liability
Boating injury cases are kind of a different animal, because there’s not many of them that you see on a regular basis. There are a lot of factors that come into play when figuring out who is responsible for your injuries. Of course the operator of the boat that you’re in is fully responsible for your safety, and if something happens to you as a result of their negligence, then of course it’s an easy case and they’re liable for your injuries. There could be some cases where there are a couple different boats involved in an accident and the boats don’t take proper care to make sure that they don’t come in contact with one another. In those instances, there may be another boat involved in a situation that would bring in coverage of both boats. We had indicated, on many occasions, sometimes two people can be responsible for an accident, so two separate drivers of boats could be responsible.
If you or a loved one has been injured in a boating accident and have read these 4 boat accident facts, contact one of our experienced Hamburg boat accident lawyers at Chiacchia & Fleming to schedule a free case review. Our trial team is aggressive and determined when it comes to making our clients whole.
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