Fort Lauderdale, and every other coastal town and city in Florida, is a great destination for boating enthusiasts — and for good reason. Our warm Atlantic and Gulf waters, sunny Florida weather, and beautiful beaches make for excellent boating conditions and understandable motivators for people who travel from across the globe to take advantage of all that our state has to offer. Whether you own a boat, are a member of a boat club, or spend your weekends on friends’ boats, one thing is certain: knowing boat safety and ensuring that you follow these best practices is key to a fun and safe time out on the water. While most Floridians live by these guidelines, there are, unfortunately, many boaters out on the water who do not.
Each time we head out into open waters, we rely on our own experience and education to stay safe, but we also rely on the responsibility and prudence of strangers who are operating their own vessels around us. When everyone obeys the rules of the water and engages in critical thinking, a nice day on the water can be relaxing, exciting, and unforgettable; however, when those around us fail to keep the safety of others in mind and engage in reckless, negligent, or otherwise dangerous boating, the risks can be enormous.
Contact 1-800-Injured To Connect With a Boat Accident Attorney Today
1-800-Injured is an attorney and medical referral service. After a boating accident that someone else caused, one of the most important things (other than your medical needs and recovery) is the claims process. These processes are complex, and insurance companies work aggressively to settle claims as quickly as possible and for as little as possible. They often succeed with this goal when working directly with a victim, since the claims process can be confusing and overwhelming — especially while someone is trying to recover from serious injuries at the same time.
When you are being represented by an attorney after your Fort Lauderdale boat accident, you can prioritize your recovery without taking on the extra emotional burden of handling your insurance claim. Instead of needing to defend yourself by repeatedly trying to prove the damage and the impact that this horrifying experience has had on you, your personal injury attorney will handle these steps while you make sure that you get what you need to move forward and get your life back on track.
Seeking Compensation After a Boating Accident in Fort Lauderdale
When someone else causes an accident, whether on land or sea, their insurance company is responsible for paying a range of damages, both economic and non-economic, to the victims. In the event that the accident causes fatal injuries, the surviving loved ones have the legal right to seek these damages and more from the insurer. In either of these cases, the claimants will be seeking compensation from an insurance company that is focused on settling this claim for as little as possible in order to protect revenue. The adjuster assigned to the case will be working on behalf of the insurer, either as an employee or contractor, and they are equally focused on this low-cost outcome. In order to push back and ensure that you are working towards a settlement amount that accurately and fairly compensates you for the many impacts you have suffered, you will greatly benefit from legal representation.
When you are working with a lawyer, they will go through the many details of your situation in order to gather a body of evidence that will help to calculate their damage calculations and then support these calculations during direct negotiations. Oftentimes, an attorney will work to settle a claim directly, without going to the Florida courts, in order to save time and effort while still getting a fair payment for their client. In some cases, they may decide to go directly to the courts, but these situations are the exception.
Understanding Personal Injury Damages
The term “damages” often confuses victims because they believe that they are looking to recover the cost of damage to their property — i.e., the repair or replacement costs of their boat and the rest of their personal possessions that were ruined or lost in the accident. This is not actually the case. “Damages,” in terms of a personal injury case, applies to any measurable impact that the accident caused, and the word itself simply means “a remedy in the form of monetary compensation to the harmed party,” according to the Legal Information Institute.
Economic Damages
Economic damages are the core damages of a personal injury claim, and while they are the simplest to calculate, there is a lot of work that goes into ensuring that each is accounted for. These types of damages apply to anything that has a measurable dollar value, such as a medical bill, lost wages, services a victim hired to help them carry out tasks, and more.
Insurance adjusters will try to avoid “detail” economic damages, and oftentimes a victim will choose not to include minor damages because they think that it isn’t worth it, or simply because they don’t know to include them. A detail-oriented personal injury attorney will make sure to include each damage as an individual line item, and these seemingly minor damages will all add up.
Non-Economic Damages
Non-economic damages are the impacts of a boat accident that do not have measurable dollar values. Boating accidents can be exceptionally traumatic, especially in the event that the vessel sinks and the victims are stranded in the water waiting for rescue. This trauma is just one of the many non-economic impacts that a victim is rightfully entitled to. Other non-economic damages include things like the pain and suffering of their injuries and the loss of quality of life as a result of the injuries they have endured.
There are a number of ways for a personal injury attorney to calculate non-economic damages, and the method they choose will be with the intention of getting the most money for their clients. Defending these calculations during negotiations can be extremely overwhelming, so a victim who reaches their own calculations may still find themselves struggling to reach a settlement agreement with the insurance company if they are not using legal representation.