The Florida Boat Accident Guide was created by Victory Law Firm to help injured residents obtain maximum compensation. Call our lawyers for a consultation.
If you have suffered serious injuries in a boating accident, we are terribly sorry that you had to suffer this misfortune. Your life is probably really crazy right now and you don’t know what to do to get justice. Our Florida boat accident lawyers are here to help you get what you are entitled to. We are passionate about helping the injured people in our community fight against the liable people and hold them responsible to get the justice you deserve. If you are seeking fierce representation and want to get started as soon as possible, call our office to set up your free, first consultation today.
Tips for a Successful Boat Accident Case
Right after you have been injured in your boat accident there are several things that you are going to want to do right away. The most important thing that we can tell anyone who comes to us for advice is to get medical attention immediately after you’ve been hurt. If you’ve not already done so, you need to prioritize your well-being and get yourself in front of a doctor to discuss any and every complaints that you have about your well-being. Injuries and damages related to this accident are very important to address with your doctor right away. If you do not do this, the insurance company is going to see that you waited to get medical treatment and they might claim that you lied about how badly you were hurt or even where you got your injuries to begin with.
Something that you also need to do urgently is seek the help of Florida Boat accident lawyers. It’s important that you do not wait to seek help from a lawyer because these cases are time sensitive and waiting makes it harder for you to get justice. We want you to reach out immediately. We want you to keep this on your radar. If you don’t reach out right away, you might forget about the fact that you are entitled to justice and let it slip off of your list of to-do’s for years. If you wait longer than four years to call and set up a consultation to file a claim, then you might end up losing out on justice. The statute of limitations in Florida is four years. If you don’t get your case filed before then, you will not be able to receive justice at all.
We often see that when people don’t reach out to a lawyer right away, they are more prone to making case-ruining mistakes. If you waited to talk to our Florida boat accident lawyers, you might not know that giving a recorded statement to the insurance company who represents the liable party is a huge mistake because they want to get you on recording saying something that would allow for them to reduce what they are going to give you for compensation. We are waiting for your call to set up your free consultation.
Protecting Your Rights
Going on a boat is supposed to be a safe and sometimes very relaxing warm weather activity. When people are careless or negligent, especially if they are under the influence of drugs or alcohol, then the accidents that can happen can be catastrophic or, in the worst cases, fatal. Any time you are on a watercraft, you do run the risk of getting hurt by someone acting carelessly or negligently. It doesn’t matter if you are on a personal yacht, a kayak, a Jet Ski or otherwise, when there is negligent presence related to the accident and you’ve been hurt because of this person’s negligence, we urge you to reach out to our Florida boat accident lawyers right away. You should never let the fact that you know the liable party personally prevent you from reaching out for help from us because you are entitled to justice regardless of who the operator of the watercraft was.
These accidents tend to be quite severe as you are not protected by airbags from any sort of collision and often there’s a lot of things on the boat that can provide a very hard landing for you if you’re thrown in the boat or watercraft. Because of the presence of water, if you don’t know how to swim and you haven’t been presented with proper safety features, then you could end up with drowning injuries if you were lucky enough to be rescued. We often see people with spinal cord damage and head injuries. Broken bones and needing surgery are also a common occurrence with both accidents. Our Florida boat accident lawyers have seen a lot of these accidents and the expenses for medical treatment can be severe.
We have confidence in handling these types of cases and we hope to bring you justice when you reach out to set up your first free consultation with us. You deserve to know what your rights are and what you are entitled to. If we cannot get the insurance company to come up with a fair and reasonable settlement offer through negotiations with them, then we are going to take your case all the way to trial. We prepare every case as if it is going to end up in trial but it is less common for that to happen. We fight hard to push them to give you better results sooner.
How Florida Boat Accident Lawyers Help You
If you have recently been involved in a boat accident and you don’t know whether or not you should file a claim, we hope that you reach out to our office right away to see how we can help you. We have the knowledge and skill set to successfully handle even the toughest of cases going up against even the largest of insurance companies. We do this on a daily basis and we want you to know that there’s nothing to worry about when you have us on your side. You let us handle all of the hard parts so you can focus on yourself and end up with a better life in the end.
We also work on a contingency fee basis so if you were concerned about out of pocket costs for a lawyer, please know that you will never have to pay a penny to us unless and until we win your case. Don’t let your hesitations get in the way of you getting justice. We can ease the stress of this case so you can understand that you deserve more.
Boat Accident Claim Investigation
A successful case relies a lot on the investigation process and the negotiation process with the insurance company. Both your Florida boat accident lawyers as well as the liable party’s insurance company are going to be performing investigations to see what happened and what can be done about this accident. Our main objective, of course, is to show that the liable party was directly responsible for your harm and deserves to be held accountable for it.
When we look at the operator of the boat, we are going to be seeing what their experience and training was being the captain of this watercraft. It is important to us to find out what their history is with accidents in the past, as well as when they got their license. We are also very interested in looking into their employment records if this was a boat operator who was working with a company that owns the boat. Something that will also be looking into during an investigation is whether or not they were found to be under the influence of drugs or alcohol. If this was someone’s personal boat you were on and they were well above the legal limit and clearly intoxicated that might be why you were in this avoidable accident.
We can also see what kind of evidence can be collected. If we can get photos and video of the boat or boats involved then we are going to be able to see a better picture of what happened in this moment. We also might be able to obtain surveillance videos as well as testimony from witnesses to see what they have to say. Of course, the longer you wait to reach out to us the less reliable witness testimony tends to be. Acting urgently is important for your case because not only will the witnesses forget key factors of the accident, you might also miss out on getting other evidence.
Frequently Asked Boat Accident Questions
How much does it cost to hire an attorney for a boating accident?
Many times, when we speak with clients who are involved in boating accidents, one of their first questions is how they can afford to hire an attorney. They’re injured. They may be out of work. They may not be able to cover costs of medical bills and now they have to deal with a lawyer. That’s not something you need to worry about. At the Victory law firm, we dover all costs. We seek to recover for you on behalf of the insurance company. If there’s no recovery for you, there’s no cost to you. Never let the fear of having to pay an attorney get in the way of getting experienced and qualified legal representation for your boating accident. If you’ve been injured in one of Florida’s waterways on a boating accident or throughout Florida, please don’t hesitate to call us here at the Victory law firm.
How do I determine the value of my boat accident claim in Florida?
Here in central Florida, we are home to thousands of lakes. Millions of boat enthusiasts enjoy the waterways of Florida every day, from the Indian River, the Banana River, Saint Johns River, the Gulf of Mexico, the Atlantic Ocean, all the lakes in between. Now, when you have that many people in the water, accidents happen. One of the most common questions we get from clients is what’s my accident worth, what’s my case worth. Now, the answer to that question tends to be what your injuries are and what are the medical bills associated with those injuries. That tends to be the starting off point for those types of cases.
Now, there’s things that can be added to increase the value of that case. How much has this incident affected your life? How much has it affected your family’s life? Has it affected the ability for you to earn money in the past or in the future? Things like pain and suffering, lost wages, they all factor into increasing the value of your case from that point on.
Obviously, defendants and insurance companies will do what they do which is to try and chip away at the value of your case. Perhaps they want to claim you were partially at fault or medical bills or treatment you received were excessive or unnecessary. An experienced attorney who handles these types of cases will be able to maximize the value of your case, which is why it’s important that if you’ve been involved in a boating accident here in Florida, reach out to us at the Victory law firm.
How do I select the best boat accident attorney in Florida?
Central Florida leads the nation in boat registrations. From our waterways, our bays, our sounds, our rivers, our lakes, central Florida is home to so many boat enthusiasts. If you have been injured in a boating accident, it’s critically important that you hire an attorney who’s experienced in that type of case. It’s the most critical decision you make in your case. An attorney who’s experienced in boat accidents will know the difference between filing a claim in state court or using admiralty federal court, where your incident happened is hugely important to determine the course of your case, but if you get off on the wrong foot by hiring an attorney who’s not experienced in boating accidents, your case could be irreparably damaged. If you’ve been involved in a boating accident here in central Florida or throughout Florida, please contact us at the Victory law firm.
How long is it going to take to resolve my boat accident injury claim?
One of the most common questions we get from our clients who are involved in boating accidents is how long their case will case take. The simple answer is it depends. Now, what does that mean? Obviously, it depends on a couple of things, primarily your injuries, if you are treating, the length of your treatment is going to prolong the time it takes for your case to settle. We never want to rush this. Your body is the most important thing and you want to follow all courses of treatment.
The second thing is liability. Whoever might be at fault might be denying liability or they might be accepting liability. That will be just hugely important to determining how long your case settles. If it’s going to be a battle, cases can drag on for several months. If liability is very clear or liability is accepted by the at fault party, cases can settle within weeks very quickly. The point is every case is very different. What you want is an attorney who’s experienced in boating accident cases and who will be able to push your case forward as quickly and aggressively as possible, be it in state court or in federal court. If you’ve been injured in a boating accident here in central Florida or throughout Florida, please contact us here at the Victory law firm.
Should I talk to the insurance company after a boat accident?
Recently, one of our clients who was involved in a boating accident told us about how the insurance company reached out to him the night of the accident. Now, fortunately, our client decided not to speak to that insurance adjustor and that was the proper thing to do. If you’re involved in a boating accident, you should never give a statement do any insurance company, at least not until you’ve spoken to an attorney. A lot of times, the insurance companies will attempt to elicit self-serving statements from you that will limit their liability and the necessity for them to pay for your damages. Likewise, if an attorney reaches out to you, you should never speak with an attorney regarding your case until you’ve had a chance to speak with your attorney. If you’ve been involved in a boating accident here in central Florida, it’s critically important that as soon as possible you contact us here at the Victory law firm to represent your interest against the insurance company.
What are common mistakes people make if they have been injured in a boat accident?
Having represented various plaintiffs in boating accident cases, we find that one of the biggest mistakes they make right away is not gathering information at the scene of the accident. If you’ve been involved in a boating accident, it’s important that you try and record as much of what happened right away, be it through photographs or video, if there are witnesses, people around, names and phone numbers. Essentially, what you want to do is get the who, the what, the where, and the why comes later, but the inability to have that when we commence a case just makes it that much harder. It’s something that we have to do on the backend and investigate and find all these types of facts out. If you’re involved in a boating accident, don’t make the mistake of not gathering as much information as possible. It will greatly benefit your case further on down the line and expedite any type of settlement.
Also, you want to make sure that you don’t say anything detrimental to your case. If an insurance adjustor calls you, speak with an attorney first. If an attorney reaches out to you, speak with an attorney first. If you’ve been involved in a boating accident here in central Florida or anywhere in Florida, please reach out to us at the Victory law firm right away.
What damages can be recovered from a boating accident?
If you’ve been involved in a boating accident here in Florida, there are various potential avenues for recovery. Most commonly, when someone is injured, they are compensated for the medical bills and the treatment that they’ve received. They’ve received perhaps a settlement that involves compensation for the pain and suffering that they had to endure because of the incident. Maybe they’ve lost wages. There’s also property damage to consider if you’ve been involved in a boating accident, whether it was your boat that was struck by the negligence of another or whatever act contributed to your injury, you can be compensated for that as well. The important thing is to be able to overturn every stone to find any recovery possible for you. If you have been involved in a boating accident, please speak with us. We’ll be able to examine the specific details of your case and compensate you in any way possible for your injuries.
Sometimes clients call and tell us they were injured in an accident due to somebody else’s fault; either they forgot, they were in a hurry, or some people are just opposed to it still. What we tell those clients is you are able to receive compensation for injuries sustained in that car accident as long as the seat belt would not have prevented them. For example, if you’re struck from the side and you break your arm against the door, you have a valid claim for that injury. However, if by wearing a seat belt you would not have struck your head on the steering wheel, for example, then you are not protected. It’s called the seat belt defense. What would happen is, although we would claim all of the injuries that were caused by the accident, the defendants are allowed to assert as a defense that because you weren’t wearing a seat belt those injuries should be either precluded or diminished because of your failure to wear that device.
Call Our Florida Boat Accident Lawyers
If you want dedicated and loyal representation, please call us today and we can set up a free initial consultation. You deserve to have someone in your corner fighting for your rights against the greedy insurance companies who simply want to make a profit off of your case and wash their hands clean of responsibility for your compensation. We are waiting for your call to set up your free consultation right away. When you need justice, we hope that you reach out to us.