IS A WAIVER VALID IN A BOATING ACCIDENT IN FLORIDA?

I SIGNED A WAIVER ON A BOAT TOUR. IS MY BOATING INJURY CASE VIABLE IN FLORIDA?

In Florida, the law holds that waivers and releases of claims are disfavored; however, if the waiver/release is not ambiguous and they are well written, the Courts and enforce them. This is also true under maritime law: if the waiver (some call it a “Release” of all claims) is unambiguous and signed prior to the boat ride, dolphin watch tour, dive trip, sunset cruise, go-fast vessel ride, airboat tour, booze cruise, charter fishing trip, parasail ride, etc., the Waiver could be held valid by a judge.  Many charter businesses—or more accurately, their insurers—try to get a judge to dismiss a boating excursion ride. It is usually the insurer who has placed a Release in the hands of the tour operator to use. In other words, the Release was written by attorneys for the insurance companies to give the best chance to keep an injured boating victim from recovering anything even if the vessel operator was directly and overtly negligent.

And it does not matter if there was plenty of insurance to cover the incident, that insurer will try to avoid payment if the tour operator had you sign a waiver.

CAN ANYTHING BE DONE TO GET PAST THE WAIVER IF I SIGNED IT?

First you need to understand where you are in this process. Boating accidents in Florida are governed by maritime law—not auto accident law—in about 95% of cases. Second, you need a maritime attorney to know your rights and use maritime law against that waiver. If you go to an auto accident law firm, they can tell you about Florida auto accident law, but they typically do not know the specialized area of maritime law which applies to most boating accident cases in Florida.

The answer to the question: (“Can anything be done to get past the waiver if I signed it?”) is YES there are options.  At www.888BoatLaw.com we specialize in boating accident cases in Florida and have handled them statewide for 25 years.  We have overcome many waivers which an insurer said would prevent the insurer from paying anything on the claim. What this means is we know the issues and we know the legal arguments to make against attempted waivers of your boating accident personal injury rights.

Just one example is as follows: When an injury occurs on a vessel—and this is often the case on a boat tour—then the vessel itself is responsible for that wrongdoing under maritime law. Many tour operators do not have such an exclusion in their waivers to prohibit an injured passenger from going after the vessel. This has to be pursued through the U.S. Marshal’s Office wherein the vessel may be seized. There are very few attorneys in the state of Florida who know how to effectuate the arrest of an offending vessel, because they would be maritime attorneys like us at www.888BoatLaw.com. It has been estimated that out of more than 100,000 attorneys licensed in the state of Florida there are only 50-75 maritime attorneys practicing in this law on an every day basis.  At www.BoatLaw.com, as the name indicates, we are practicing in maritime law—and yes we do know how to arrest vessels when they (or their operator) have caused injury to a passenger or injury to someone who is not on the vessel.

SUMMARY: CAN I PURSUE A BOATING ACCIDENT CASE IF I SIGNED THE COMPANY’S WAIVER?

1. Boat excursion and touring companies around the coast of Florida regularly use waivers and when the company employee makes a mistake and injures a passenger, the tour company claims immunity for anything and everything because a waiver was signed.

2. Waivers can be beaten, but each case depends on the facts of that case.

3. Some waivers are written better, and some are written worse than others.

4. Many waivers are pulled off the internet and used by smaller operators. Many times those waivers are ambiguous, poorly written, and just copied off the internet.

5. Your attorney needs to know what they are doing–and what they are looking for–to beat a waiver which could prevent you from recovering for your boating excursion or boating accident injuries.

At www.888BoatLaw.com we know how to pursue your case correctly. We are specialists in maritime law injury cases working only for claimants and never for any insurance company. You can trust our 25 years of successfully recovering for boating accident clients, including many cases involving passengers severely injured and who signed a Waiver. We know maritime law.

Don’t trust your recreational boat injury incident case to just anyone. Contact the law firm that specializes in this law and is handling these types of cases right now throughout all of Florida. (Check what our clients say about us when you Google: 888boatlaw.com reviews.)

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