Thank you for assisting myself and my family through this 'trying time' with my son. Your efforts have not gone un-noticed or unappreciated, you are a master of your craft.
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K. Johnson
Fatal Boating Accidents
If you Have Lost a Family Member in a Fatal Boating Accident, the Wrongful Death Attorneys at Grossman Law Offices Can Help
Whether you spend time on the water for leisure or for business, you’re likely aware of the dangers presented by boats and any maritime activity.
While drowning may be the first fatal consequence one thinks of when it comes to boating, the potentially lethal injuries that can happen on the water are numerous: crushing, brain trauma, burns, amputations, and lacerations.
In Texas and Arkansas, tens of thousands of people head to lakes and rivers every weekend, and even more head for the Gulf of Mexico on a daily basis. Safely driving a boat is much more difficult than driving a car, and many boaters have far less experience driving their boats than they do behind the wheel of a car. Boats do not brake or steer the same as cars, and many people only find this out the hard way when they’ve wrecked or capsized their boats. Moreover, many people choose to compound the already dangerous past-time of boating by drinking alcohol.
However, in Texas, many people make a living in the Gulf of Mexico by fishing, shipping, or laboring in the oil industry. This can lead to serious fatal boating accidents.
If your loved one was killed in a boating accident due to someone else’s negligence, then you may have the right to pursue compensation from the responsible party. However, succeeding with such a pursuit requires the assistance of a knowledgeable and experienced fatal boating accident attorney for proving the liability of the negligent party is not easy.
At Grossman Law Offices, our fatal boating accident lawyers have been dealing with theses cases and other personal injury and wrongful death lawsuits for 20 years; thus, we know what it takes to find the necessary evidence with a stringent investigation and then prove your case in court or use the evidence we have to force a fair settlement.
How do You Know if the Death Was Wrongful?
Some fatal boating accidents happen due to unfortunate circumstances and are nobody’s fault or are the fault of the victim. Thus, the victim’s family has no legal recourse. However, many other fatal boating accidents can be blamed on a negligent party. That begs the question: what makes a party negligent? For you to pursue compensation with a wrongful death lawsuit, your case must have three essential components:
- Duty – the legal responsibility owed by one party to another to take reasonable action not to harm others. What this duty entails for any given person and any given interaction with others depends upon the specific circumstances. When operating a boat, everyone has the duty of driving the boat with a reasonable degree of safety not to hurt others.
- Breach – one party neglects the required duty. When it comes to boating, this can mean that the boat was not operated safely. However, if a mechanical failure caused a fatal boating accident, then the breach could also be the boat manufacturer’s inability to provide a safe boat or the boat mechanic’s inability to adequately maintain the maritime vehicle.
- Causation – the breach of duty caused or contributed to the cause of the victim’s death. For example, the captain was piloting the boat at excessive speeds, and it ran over a swimmer in the water, causing him or her to drown.
When these conditions occur, the victim’s family has the right to seek compensation from the party to blame through a wrongful death lawsuit.
What Forms of Compensation can be Sought?
If someone you love was killed in a fatal boating accident due to someone else’s negligence, then your family can seek wrongful death damages and survival damages through one comprehensive lawsuit. In Arkansas, however, your family will need to name a personal representative of the estate before you can even file a lawsuit.
Whenever a loved one dies wrongfully, whether it’s in a boating accident or some other tragedy, the loved ones suffer both financially and emotionally. Thus, the spouses, children, and parents of those wrongfully killed can seek wrongful death damages to assuage their suffering. We know that it might seem unseemly to be thinking about money when someone so important to you has had his or her life extinguished. While our attorneys cannot end your emotional turmoil, we can help relieve the financial strains by assisting you in securing damages. Wrongful death damages and survival damages give you this opportunity. Wrongful death damages may include restitution for:
- Mental and emotional distress.
- Funeral bills.
- Loss of the financial backing the victim provided.
- Loss of the irreplaceable familial love and companionship supplied by the victim.
Survival damages, conversely, are intended to provide compensation for the travails of the victim, him or herself, but they can only be pursued by the decedent’s closest living relative. The right to seek survival damages passes down from spouse, to child, to parent, and finally to siblings. Survival damages can be sought for:
- Property damage.
- Medical bills incurred by the deceased before he or she died.
- Pain and suffering felt during the accident.
- Emotional and mental distress suffered by the victim.
Granted, many of these damages can be proven easily. Medical bills, for instance, can be easily proven by producing the bills themselves. However, accurately securing the maximum amount of compensation attainable for something subjective like pain and suffering requires extensive experience with similar cases. Otherwise, you’re only throwing a dart at the board.
What Grossman Law Offices Can Do to Help
At Grossman Law Offices, we’ve been investigating, litigating and settling fatal boat accident cases and other wrongful death lawsuits for 20 years. We’ve enabled hundreds of grieving people in both the Lone Star State and the Natural State to attain many millions of dollars in damages for the losses of their loved ones. As we have gained experience, we’ve also gained a reputation as a law firm to be reckoned with – both among insurance companies and defense lawyers.
Right now, fast action is essential, since you need to get a skilled investigator looking into the accident before the evidence is gone. Call us now for a free consultation at 1-855-589-5645. We offer you the opportunity to discuss the specifics of your case with someone who can answer your questions and help provide a solution to this terribly trying time in your life.
(policy limits) Our attorneys secured a recovery against a major trucking company for the daughter of a man who was killed after his vehicle collided into an 18-wheeler which was blocking the roadway. Litigation is ongoing against additional defendants.
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Our attorneys were hired to represent the family of a middle aged woman who was killed in a car accident. The incident occurred as another vehicle struck the car that the decedent was a passenger in, head-on on the passenger side. The impact resulted in catastrophic injuries which claimed the life of the decedent.
Our attorneys were hired soon after the accident and we launched a full investigation. Through the course of our investigation, it was soon determined that the head-on collision was caused a failed component in the defendant's vehicle (the particulars of which cannot be elaborated upon per the resolution agreement). Suit was filed against the manufacturer of said component and litigation commenced. The case was successfully resolved through litigation.
$3,200,000.00
$1,280,000.00
$50,000.00
(policy limits) Our firm was hired by the wife and children of a retired Army Colonel who was killed in an underide 18-wheeler accident. In addition to being a decorated veteran, the decedent worked both professionally and on a voluntary basis to establish numerous learning institutions and vocational programs for at risk youths. The accident occurred as the decedent was traveling on a rural highway when an 18-wheeler failed to yield the right of way and made a rolling stop through a stop sign.
This placed the trailer of the 18-wheeler in a position whereby it blocked the entire roadway and shoulder, leaving the decedent no option but to collide with the trailer. Witnesses on the scene attempted to revive him but to no avail. Furthermore, while two female eye witnesses struggled to pry open the decedent's door to provide emergency care, the truck driver stayed in his truck and offered no assistance. Despite what appeared to be an incredibly apparent case of negligence on behalf of the defendant, defense counsel refused to accept liability resulting in rather lengthy litigation.
The defendants initially denied the claim based on the allegation that the decedent was speeding and the truck driver therefore could not adequately gauge the amount of time he had to pause at the stop sign. The physical evidence contradicted this notion entirely, notwithstanding the fact that even if the decedent had been contributorily negligent, that would not have outweighed the severe degree of negligence on the part of the defendant. Nevertheless, our attorneys were able to conclusively refute this argument based on eye-witness testimony and the testimony from police investigators who calculated the decedent's speed to be precisely at the posted speed limit. In a desperate and largely unprecedented move, the defendants then designated the state as a responsible third party.
Generally speaking, a defendant will often threaten to designate a third party in order to leverage their position but it is rare that such an arbitrary and arguably frivolous designation is actually carried out. However, that is precisely what occurred and the state was thusly incorporated into the lawsuit by the defendants. The basis of the defendant's argument was that the state erected a large street sign that obstructed the truck driver's view of approaching traffic.
Several months of intense litigation were required to before the defendant finally acquiesced in regard to this argument. The argument was finally abandoned by the defendants when in the first mediation our attorneys presented video footage shot (in a controlled setting) from the perspective of an 18-wheeler driver which showed that the sign simply did not obstruct enough of the roadway in order to be a hazard. The case was ultimately resolved through litigation.
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An airline pilot suffered a shoulder injury resulting in surgery when he was sideswiped by an 18-wheeler. The case was resolved through litigation, as establishing liability was a contentious matter. The defendants claimed that the plaintiff made an illegal passing maneuver, but the evidence showed that the defendant made a sweeping turn and intruded upon our client's right of way.
$475,000.00
$158,333.00
$5,000.00
(policy limits) Recovery for victim who sustained a broken femur in a motorcycle accident.
$100,000.00
$33,000.00
$0.00
(policy limits) A husband and father of three was killed when the driver of an 18-wheeler veered into oncoming traffic, striking the young man's vehicle and several others. The defendant was employed by a small construction company that operated only a single 18-wheeler. As such, the defendants were largely underinsured and were not financially solvent.
Furthermore, the defendants had an eroding insurance policy and numerous other parties were intent upon filing claims of their own since the 18-wheeler struck multiple other vehicles. This created the need for an aggressive and rapid response before the other claimants could erode the policy.
Defense counsel made it clear that they wished to litigate the case despite the insurmountable liability arguments that our attorneys presented. They intended to designate a third party as a responsible defendant since the accident happened in a construction zone, even though it was abundantly clear that the construction zone played no role in the crash.
Additonally, the defendants made it clear that they wished to downplay the extent of the damages by virtue of a character assasination on the decedent. Fortunately for our clients, our firm has successfully litigated against the defendant's insurer in nearly a dozen cases, so the carrier was quite aware of our courtroom capabilities. We presented a sample lawsuit to the defendant's insurance carrier and informed them that the lawsuit was to be filed the moment that they refused to settle.
Additionally, our attorneys submitted a Stowers' Demand with a brief window of time for the defendants to respond. We made it abundantly clear that we intended to seek punitive damages and that we would assert the full limits of the carrier's exposure under the Stowers' Demand should the carrier not offer policy limits.
The defendant's attorney adamantly persuaded the carrier to litigate, however, our attorney's threats of litigation, past track record, and incredibly aggressive pre-litigation actions convinced the insurance carrier to disregard their own attorney's advice and to settle the case, lest they face our attorneys in court.
Had our clients been represented by virtually any other firm who did not have our specific track record or who would have not recognized that this case required special and immediate attention coupled with an abnormally aggressive stance, the client's would have certainly been tied up in litigation for years, with the limited supply of funds rapidly depleting since the other claimants who did not need to litigate would have essentially had right of first refusal.
$1,000,000.00
$333,333.00
$0.00
Recovery for family of victim who died after receiving the wrong medication.
$625,000.00
$206,250.00
$5,000.00
(policy limits) A father of two was killed on the job when he fell from a personnel platform atop an elevated piece of machinery. The defendant was initially afforded protection from a liability suit by virtue of their workers' comp policy. Upon thorough investigation, it became evident that gross negligence was at the root of the accident, and suit was filed accordingly. A successful outcome was obtained through litigation.
$550,000.00
$220,000.00
$40,000.00
Recovery for a client who suffered neck, back, and knee injuries in a motor cycle accident.
$100,000.00
$33,333.00
$627.00
Major freight train company sued as the result of an incident which claimed the life of an employee. Our attorneys settled the case outside of court for a confidential amount.
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