You just bought that new boat you have always dreamed of and are now ready for a beautiful day on the water with family and friends. As you’re heading out to the local sand bar, due to your inexperience, you misread a channel marker and collide with a boat coming from the other direction. Multiple people are injured on both watercrafts, mostly due to your negligence. Negligence occurs when an individual fails to act with reasonable care.
Your friends and family decide to use their own health insurance to pay for their injuries and not to sue you. However, the passengers on the other boat have no remorse and decide to hire a boat accident attorney to take action against you. You had decided prior not to get boat insurance because you never thought you would get into an accident. But, those individuals injured on the other boat decide to sue you personally instead because you have some assets. That fun day on the water just took a turn for quite the opposite.
It is imperative to have boat insurance in order to protect yourself from having to pay for an accident out of your own pocket. Typically, in a collision that involves two boats, each driver will be held at least partially liable. That could be a major problem for you if you have assets and there are injuries. In 2016 alone, there were almost 700 boating accidents. That is roughly a 10% increase from 2015 and almost a 20% increase from 2014.
Accidents happen. But, there is no reason why you should put your personal assets at risk by not getting the proper insurance that covers you when operating a water vessel. Many may think that their homeowner’s insurance may cover the injuries that happen while boating but, that is not always the case. Sometimes, boat insurance is not included in homeowner’s insurance policies. Don’t take a chance with your finances. Before you buy a boat, contact an insurance agent to get a quote on boat insurance. In our experience, there is no such thing as being “over insured.” Be safe everyone!
Nicolette R. Nicoletti
Managing Partner
Nicolette R. Nicoletti is the founder and managing partner of the Nicoletti Accident Injury Lawyers. She was born and raised in New Port Richey, Florida. Nicolette attended Genesis Preparatory School and graduated salutatorian of her class. She then went onto Saint Leo University for her undergraduate education. She graduated magna cum laude from the Honors Program with a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science. While at Saint Leo University, Nicolette was President of Pi Sigma Alpha (Political Science Honor Society), Secretary of Alpha Phi Sigma (Criminal Justice Honor Society), and an active member of Delta Epsilon Sigma (National Scholastic Honor Society).
Author's Bio