Boating & Cruise Ship Accidents

There are more people interested in cruise ship holidays and as such many more are subject to the laws and regulations on the cruise ships and even maritime laws. These laws although similar to laws on the land are stricter by comparison. If you have been injured in a boating or cruise ship accident then it is to your advantage to get legal help from a qualified personal injury lawyer as soon as possible.

Victims of any injury should also note that the statute of limitations does apply to boating and maritime law. This basically means that if you are injured your claims for damages or injury compensation must be filed within one year of the accident. Filing means that a time and place for litigation must be determined and doesn’t mean out of court compensation.

It is also important to note that because cruise vessels travel between maritime law jurisdictions all time, an accident happens on a vessel may be subject to different laws and regulations of that particular jurisdiction. This may also be the case with other boating accidents where jurisdictions change from state to state and country to country.

A few examples of cruise ship injuries and boating accidents that are covered by laws are:

• Cruise ship virus;
• intoxicated boater (BWI);
• Inexperienced boater;
• Malfunction of boat steering;
• Unsafe water waves;
• Disregarding speed zones;
• No wake zones violated;
• Boater negligence;
• Boat lights not working;
• Signal horn disregarded. 

When looking at boating law, smaller vessels such as jet skis or sail boats are also well covered. Any accident with smaller vessels or when using them is subject to the very complicated boating and maritime law. Our advice is to seek the proper counsel of a maritime lawyer or an experienced personal injury lawyer.

More often than not many small vessel accidents happen with the influence of alcohol (BWI). It should be noted that unlike traffic law there isn’t one official “legal limit” when it comes to driving a boat. It is up to lawyers to prove that at the time of the accident the person that caused the injury was incapacitated rather than under the influence of alcohol.