Mission Bay San Diego

Maritime law is the Law of the Sea Maritime law is very, very different from the State of California law. A particular parts of the maritime law is the limitation of Liability Act. Under the Limitation of Liability Act, if certain preconditions are met indeed, a shipowner may limit his liability for an accident to the value of their vessel.

In other words, if you are seriously injured in a boating accident in your recovery may be limited to the value of the vessel that caused your injuries. Which, of course, may lead to you not being sufficiently compensated for your injuries boat.

Limitation of Liability Act

Limitation of Shipowners Liability Act of 1851 (the "Act") may limit the liability of a shipowner to the value of the vessel. It is a unique maritime principle. The law limits the liability for claims arising from acts done by the crew of a vessel without the knowledge or complicity of the owner, proprietors of ship owners interest in the ship.

Meaning of the value of the boat or ship and its cargo. If the value of the vessel is insufficient to satisfy all requests, the law provides for equitable distribution among creditors.

Boat owners must either present a limiting action in federal court or raise as a defense. Boat owners must file a petition to limit its liability to the federal district court jurisdiction within six months after a claimant shall notify the owner of a claim. For the purposes of the Act, the charterer of a ship is deemed to be the owner.

Limiting action can literally draw your case in Federal Court. The procedure is before the court of admiralty. The law provides for all claims against the owner to be aggregated and decided at some point. It prevents multiple applications against a shipowner. Limitation of actions are fair procedures.

"What does this mean for my case of boating accident?"

In practice, a limitation action may limit your right to the value of the ship that caused your injury. This may not be a problem with a cruise ship. It can be a huge problem with a PWC or a ski boat when there is serious injury or death. The doctrine is very hard and unfair. It is generally interpreted narrowly.

The Limitation Act requires strict compliance. A lawyer experienced proactive maritime can sometimes defeat a limitation action even before it is tabled. One way to defeat a defense of limitations is to collect evidence so that you can prove complicity of the shipowner. In other words, the shipowner knew or should have known of the dangerous condition of the ship that caused the injury.

In a boat collision, when the owner is driving the ship, then an action restriction does not apply in most, if not all, of the situation. Because the owner would complicity of how he or she was captain of the ship.

Limitation of case studies Liability Act

Mission Bay, San Diego - Boat Pulling Water Skier Collides with Fishing Boat

The owner of a ski boat for water skiing while being towed by a friend. The friend was operating the boat owner. The ski boat was going the wrong way on Mission Bay, San Diego, California. The ski boat was not in a counterclockwise direction. The boat driver was watching the skier and plowed into a small fishing boat, seriously wounding three middle-aged women.

The owner of the ski boat has filed an action on the prescription. The action was dismissed because the shipowner had been pulled as a skier and he could see that his friend did not follow the proper counter-clockwise rotation on Mission Bay. Thus, he became aware of the acts were a cause of the collision.

Mexican waters - a passenger on a charter boat fishing sport slip Ladder

A passenger on a sport fishing vessel was on a charter fishing trip with four days in Mexican waters. The passenger art