Liability in Boating Accidents
Boating is a fun recreational activity that can provide a lot of fun in the summertime heat. While you may be thinking about the awesome places you could go with a new boat, it’s also important that you understand the legal situations that can arise from owning it. There are many boating accidents that happen each and every single year. Determining who is at fault when injuries occur is something you should make yourself knowledgeable about if you’re going to make the plunge to own a boat.

Defining Negligence
All boat accident lawyers in Los Angeles will tell you that negligence must be present in order to receive compensation for an injury. Just because a person was injured on or near your boat doesn’t mean that you can be held liable for the injury. There must be negligence on your part. Negligence is defined as the failure to act with reasonable care.

The Most Common Types Of Boating Accidents
Boat accident attorneys in Los Angeles tend to deal with four main types of boating accidents. Understanding what these are can help you to better understand the connection with negligence and damages for the injured party. These four accident types include:

A Boat Hitting a Wave
Los Angeles boat accident lawyers know that when it comes to hitting a wave, there are many factors that can go into determining whether or not the boat operator was in neglect. These include the size of the wave, the boat speed, visibility, traffic in the area, and so forth. These cases tend to be case-specific.

A Boat Hits Land, Rock, or Another Submerged Object
A good Los Angeles personal injury lawyer will be able to tell you that negligence in this case highly depends on the circumstances surrounding the collision. If the boat operator exercises caution and is moving at a slow speed on a foggy day, then they will not likely be liable for a collision. However, if the boat operator was speeding along the coastline on a foggy day, they’ll likely be held liable for not exercising caution due to the hazardous conditions.

A Boat Hits Another Boat’s Wake
When a boat hits a wake, it can jolt the boat enough to knock passengers down or overboard. This type of case tends to be in a grey area. On one part, the operator of any boat has a legal responsibility to keep a proper lookout for anything that may be hazardous to their boat or passengers. However, the operator of the boat which created the wake could be held in neglect if the wake was created in a no wake zone area or if a large wake was created in a crowded area.

A Boat Hits Another Boat
When this happens, typically both boat owners have at least partial fault. This allows the injured party to formulate a case against either boat operator. If one of the boat operators was injured, they must have less than 50 percent fault in the accident to seek out damages.