Recreational Boating Claims

Los Angeles - San Diego - San Francisco Boating Accident Attorneys
Banning Micklow & Bull LLP - Personal Watercraft Injury Lawyers

While recreational boating remains as popular as ever, increasing congestion in the coastal waters, lakes, and rivers of California can present serious hazards for the weekend sailor or bass boat operator.

If you have been injured in an accident involving any form of small craft or pleasure boat, you might have a personal injury claim under federal maritime law against the owner, the operator, a third party, or even the government. To find out more about your rights, contact an experienced Northern or Southern California boat accident lawyer at Banning Micklow & Bull.

The interplay between state law and federal maritime law in small boat accidents can be extremely complicated. In certain wrongful death cases, it's to the plaintiff's advantage to bring the claim in state court and try to avoid federal admiralty jurisdiction. In other cases, federal maritime law will give you the best opportunity to receive full compensation for the entire range of your injuries and losses.

Either way, you need an experienced maritime personal injury attorney to evaluate all of your claims and your opponent's defenses, such as the defense asserted where the owner of the speedboat that struck someone filed a petition for Exoneration or Limitation of Liability under federal maritime law. If successful, the petitioning owner's liability to you will be limited to the post-collision value of his boat. We can help you avoid that unfortunate result.

We can advise and represent you in any of the following situations:

• Jet Ski or other personal watercraft injuries.
• Propeller impact injuries
• Sailboat or motorboat collisions or other accidents.
• Accidents involving alcohol or drunk boating.
• Insurance disputes involving recreational watercraft or injuries
• Accidents caused by unseen or unmarked navigation hazards.
• Accidents involving canoes, kayaks, rafts, or other small recreational vessels.
• Injuries from fires or explosions.

Federal admiralty jurisdiction has little or nothing to do with the size of the craft involved in a recreational boating accident - Personal Injury (Boating). Under certain circumstances, even a person injured while inner tubing on a river can find himself or herself a plaintiff against the federal government under the Suits in Admiralty Act.

For more information about what our close familiarity with maritime accident law can mean for your recreational boating case, contact a skilled San Francisco-San Diego personal watercraft injury attorney at Banning Micklow & Bull.

Banning Micklow & Bull LLP - California Boat Accident Lawyers

One Market Street
Steuart Tower, Suite 1440
San Francisco, California 94105
Telephone: (415) 399-9191
Fax: (415) 399-9192

501 West Broadway, Suite 2090
San Diego, California 92101
Telephone: (619) 230-0030
Fax: (619) 230-1350

E-Mail Us

California boating accident lawyers Banning Micklow & Bull represent persons with personal injury lawsuit and wrongful death claims relating to recreational boating, including yachts, pleasure boats, speed boats, sailboats, pontoons, personal watercraft, jet skis, kayaks, canoes, racing shells, and even inner tubes, including cases involving drunk boating or drunk driving in California, San Francisco, San Diego, Oakland, Los Angeles, Long Beach, Santa Monica, Santa Barbara, La Jolla, Sacramento, Stockton, San Pedro, Crescent City, Wilmington, Bodega Bay, Coos Bay, Pillar Point, Oxnard, Eureka, Half Moon Bay, Los Angeles Harbor, and San Francisco Bay Area and Delta.