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Coping With Legal Issues

When I started getting into trouble I became pretty acclimated to legal procedures. Calling my attorney and working out bail was just another way to spend a Saturday night. Unfortunately, the stiffer the charges, the more difficult it was to talk my way out of a bad situation. After so many charges, I found myself slapped with a long jail sentence, and I realized that I wanted to turn things around. Fortunately, my lawyer was able to walk me through yet another process, so that I could make the right changes. My blog discusses how to emotionally cope with legal issues so that you can start living a good life.

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Coping With Legal Issues

Pursuing an Open Water Charter Boat Accident Lawsuit

by Lillian Wheeler

People who have suffered personal injuries while riding on a charter boat deserve to be compensated for their injuries. However, it can be hard to pursue these cases successfully. It requires understanding open water accidents and how to prove negligence and liability in the boat driver or owner.

Charter Boats Can Be Dangerous

While charter boats can be a fun way to get out on a lake or ocean, they can also be problematic. For example, they may run into rough waters that cause people to get sick or even injured. However, the charter boat captain may contribute to this problem by behaving in negligent ways. When these kinds of injuries occur, those who have been injured can seek a lawsuit to address the issue.

Liability Must Be Assessed

After a boating accident like this occurs, it is important to prove liability lay in the charter boat owner. The best way to argue this is typically through negligence. While most boat owners are unlikely to do something criminal or purposeful to hurt their clients, they may do something that inadvertently hurts them or causes serious problems.

For example, a charter boat owner may neglect to mention strong undercurrents near a swimming area and cause a swimmer to nearly drown. They may also neglect their driving duties and cause the boat to run aground or against a rock, causing personal injuries.

How the Case May Be Defended

In open water lawsuits like this, the defense is likely to argue against liability by somehow minimizing the guilty party's role. For example, they may argue that there was no negligence or that the boater took on an assumed risk by coming on the boat or swimming around it. These defenses can be frustrating because it tries to paint the plaintiff in a harsh light.

They may also try to argue comparative negligence, a defense that claims that the person on the boat was also negligent. For example, the boat owner may have failed to anchor the boat while someone was swimming off a charter boat, but the swimmer may have neglected to keep a proper distance. The idea is to decrease the money paid to the plaintiff or negate payment entirely.

Fighting through these kinds of open water lawsuits can be troubling for someone who has suffered from physical injury. However, it is necessary for those who have been impacted by these lawsuits to do what they can to prove liability falls on the charter boat owner. To learn more, contact services like Maritime Law Center.

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