The Basics of Proving Negligence in a Boat Accident Claim

When you are employed on a commercial boat like a fishing vessel or oil tanker, you risk suffering serious injury in a boat accident on a daily basis. Many boat accidents could have been prevented had negligence not been a factor. When both employers and workers follow proper safety rules and exercise reasonable behavior, the risk of accidents is lower.

To better understand negligence in a boat accident injury claim, we offer this scenario:

You are working on a commercial fishing boat and report to your employer that a ladder on one of the decks is broken. Your employer fails to fix the ladder, and you fall, sustaining a serious head injury. 

There are many ways to look at this case to determine who is negligent. The employer is where the focus first shifts, because they blatantly neglected to fix the broken ladder after it was reported. However, in a case like this, the defense also will try to argue that you were negligent in your own safety because you knew the ladder was broken but attempted to use it anyway.

You will probably counter this argument by saying that it was reasonable to expect your employer to make the necessary repairs to the ladder. This argument is best made by an experienced boat accident attorney in New Orleans. Proving negligence in a maritime claim is often difficult without the proper evidence and knowledge of Maritime Law, but your attorney will help.

Contact a Boat Accident Attorney in New Orleans

Maritime law provides you with certain protections your employer may not want you to know about. An attorney who handles cases of negligence that result in a boat accident in Louisiana can be found at The Young Law Firm in New Orleans. Our boat accident attorneys can help you if you have suffered maritime offshore accident injuries while working on a commercial vessel. 

Though we are based in Louisiana, we are ready and able to help injured victims throughout the U.S. Order our free Maritime Injury Law guide and/or our guide to what to do when you are injured offshore to learn all about your rights as an injured worker. 

When you are ready to get started with your Jones Act injury case, we urge you to contact us today for a FREE case evaluation – call 1-504-680-4100 or toll-free at 1-866-938-6113.