Boating in the San Pedro Channel is an incredibly fun activity that thousands of people engage in every single year. However, sometimes, due to the carelessness of a few bad actors, this fun family activity can turn dangerous or deadly, ruining the fun for everyone involved.
If you have been injured in a boating accident in the Buena Park or Los Angeles area, you might be entitled to receive financial compensation from the at-fault party. For assistance getting the compensation that you deserve, you need the assistance of a highly skilled and professional boating accident lawyer in Buena Park. Contact Simmrin Law Group today for a free consultation and case review.
Buena Park Boating Accident Statistics
Boating, while a fun activity that is generally safe, can be made dangerous by the actions of the few. In fact, hundreds of people every year meet their end in boating accidents in the Buena Park area, and thousands more are injured.
According to a report by the United States Coast Guard, in the last year that data was collected, 610 people lost their lives in boating accidents in the general Los Angeles area, and 2,678 people were injured. This was the result of 4,064 accidents that year. While the vessel with the most fatalities was open motorboats, even canoes and kayaks were involved in fatal boating accidents at a disturbingly high rate.
When the cause of death was known in fatal boating accidents, 78% of deaths were due to drowning. While this might seem obvious, this means that more than 1 in 5 deaths in boating accidents were due to causes other than drowning, a terrifying thought.
For a free legal consultation with a boating accidents lawyer serving Buena Park, call (310) 896-2723
California Boating Laws
Despite having more coastline than any other state, California surprisingly has some of the loosest regulations on boating in the entire country. This can make boating more dangerous. For example, having a previous boating under the influence (BUI) conviction has no impact on a person’s future boating privileges.
What this means is that people with a propensity to engage in dangerous behaviors, like boating while under the influence of alcohol and drugs, are not removed from the water by the State of California. This means that these people very well might get another BUI, and injure innocent bystanders.
Buena Park Boating Accident Lawyer Near Me (310) 896-2723
How Do I Get Financial Compensation After a Boating Accident?
To be entitled to financial compensation after being injured in a boating accident, you will need to prove that the at-fault party was negligent and that this negligence resulted in your injuries. To prove negligence in court, you will have to prove 4 different elements: duty, breach, proximate causation, and damages.
Duty
The first thing that you must prove is duty. A “duty” is a legal obligation to act in a certain way. This element is essentially proven for you, because under California Law when operating any type of motor vehicle, including boats, a person has a duty to act with reasonable care to avoid injuring other people.
Breach of Duty
The next element that you must prove is a breach of duty. Since the duty in a boating accident is to act with reasonable care, you must prove that the at-fault party failed to act with reasonable care. This means that you must show the jury that the at-fault party failed to act as carefully as an average, reasonably prudent person would have acted under the same circumstances.
There are several actions that you might try to prove to prove that the at-fault party breached their duty, such as:
- They violated any boating law that they were obligated to obey.
- They operated a boat despite having very limited or no experience doing so.
- They were using alcohol or drugs while operating the boat.
- They were not paying sufficient attention.
- They were operating the boat despite knowing that certain safety features of their boat were inoperative or malfunctioning.
- They operated their boat at an excessively high speed.
- They operated their boat in some other careless or reckless fashion.
Your Buena Park boating accident lawyer will know what actions by the at-fault party constitute a breach of duty and will know how to prove this to the jury.
Proximate Causation
The next element that you have to prove is proximate causation. This means that you must prove that but for the at-fault party’s breach of duty, you would not have been injured. This is almost always the easiest or second easiest element to prove because it is often very obvious that you were injured in a boating accident.
Damages
The final element that you must prove is damages. This only means that you have to show that you were injured in some way, as courts only have jurisdiction to redress actual injuries. This is also very easy to prove. You can easily show that you were injured by producing medical bills as evidence or simply showing property damage to your own boat, for example.
You can also be damaged in other ways, such as loss of enjoyment of your life, or pain and suffering. These are less easily calculated damages but exist so that the jury can award you the amount of money that they feel you deserve for the long-lasting impacts of your injuries. These damages can be awarded in addition to your clear damages, such as property damage or medical bills.
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Contact a Boating Accident Attorney in Buena Park
Have you been injured in a boating accident in the Buena Park or Los Angeles, California area? If so, you are likely entitled to financial compensation. To obtain this financial compensation, you need the help of highly skilled and experienced Buena Park boating accident attorneys.
At Simmrin Law Group, we pride ourselves on getting justice for our clients who have been injured. We will do everything that we can to get you the compensation that you deserve after a Buena Park boating accident. If you have been injured in a boating accident in Buena Park, contact Simmrin Law Group today for a free consultation and case review.
Call or text (310) 896-2723 or complete a Free Case Evaluation form