What to Do After a Boat Accident in Tampa

You must seek immediate medical attention after a boat accident in Tampa. Your next step should be hiring a qualified Tampa boat accident lawyer to seek fair compensation for your accident-related damages from any at-fault parties. An attorney can pursue your financial recovery while you recover from any injuries suffered during the boat accident.

The effects of a boat accident can be debilitating, costly, and potentially lifelong. You must receive the compensation you deserve for medical costs, pain and suffering, property damage, and any other harm caused by the accident.

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Do Not Wait to Get Medical Attention After a Boat Accident in Tampa

Seeking medical attention is essential for every boat accident victim in Tampa or elsewhere. You may get medical care at a walk-in facility, emergency room, doctor’s office, or another sufficient facility. Once you have identified a qualified medical professional, you should:

• Get a physical examination as soon as possible
• Explain what happened to you during your boat accident
• Explain any symptoms you are currently experiencing
• Request specific diagnoses of (or explanations for) each of your symptoms
• Determine if medical imaging can reveal any injuries you’ve suffered

If given the option, you may elect to have X-rays, CT scans, or other necessary imaging done. This imaging can serve as definitive proof of accident-related injuries and be valuable to your case.

Keep All Documentation of Your Medical Care

Watercraft accidents are associated with propeller injuries, blunt impact injuries, infections, and a range of other serious medical ailments. If you hope to obtain fair compensation for your medical costs (which may be extensive), you should:

• Keep any medical records your doctor provides
• Keep copies of any X-rays or other medical images taken after your accident
• Keep a written log describing injury symptoms
• Keep all accident-related medical bills

You should also consult a boat accident lawyer. They can gather all relevant documentation as they build your case for a financial recovery.

How a Boat Accident Lawyer Will Fight for Your Financial Recovery

Attorneys can make your post-accident life far easier. Your lawyer and their team will handle every step in your insurance claim or lawsuit, including:

Protecting You from Insurance Companies

Lawyers deal with insurance companies for boat accident victims. You want your lawyer to have complete control of your case to best protect your rights. Your lawyer will:

• Provide information about your accident and losses to insurers
• Combat any bad-faith tactics by insurers (such as unfair denials and lowball settlement offers)
• Respond appropriately to correspondence from insurers
• Insist that the insurance companies resolve your case as soon as possible

The insurance claims process often has high financial stakes and plenty of headaches. Allow your lawyer to take this process off your hands.

Detailing the Boat Accident

Your legal team will detail every relevant aspect of your boat accident. They will gather any evidence that is relevant to your case, which may include:

• Your account of how and why the boat accident occurred
• Relevant eyewitness testimony
• Expert testimony about the cause of the boat accident (and who is at fault for that cause)
• Any police report related to the accident

Your lawyer will obtain any video footage that is relevant to your case. They may also hire an expert to reconstruct how the boat accident happened, as watercraft collisions are not always caught on video.

Documenting Your Accident-Related Damages

Your damages are vitally important to your case, so your lawyer will document them in as much detail as possible. Important documentation in a boat accident case can include:

• Medical bills for accident-related care
• Expert testimony about your injuries and healthcare needs
• A mental health expert’s diagnosis of your pain and suffering
• Evidence that your professional life has suffered because of the accident
• Any other documentation of your economic and non-economic damages

Effective lawyers reach out to doctors and other qualified professionals to help document clients’ damages.

Calculating Your Case Value

Your attorney will evaluate your economic and non-economic damages to determine how much compensation you deserve.

The cost of cases involving disabling injuries can be particularly high, as these injuries often come with steep healthcare costs and significant pain and suffering.

Negotiating a Settlement with Liable Parties

Your lawyer may secure a fair settlement offer by presenting:

• Evidence of who is at fault for your Tampa boat accident
• All available documentation of your damages
• Their calculation of your current and future damages
• Any other information that is relevant to your claim or lawsuit

Statistics indicate that your case will most likely settle, and your lawyer will fight for the settlement you deserve. However, there is a chance those responsible for your boat accident refuse to offer you fair compensation.

Advising You About Whether to File a Lawsuit

A lawsuit may be in order if liable parties don’t meet your lawyer’s settlement demands. Your attorney will discuss this possibility with you, solicit your feedback, and help you make a decision.

Completing Any Necessary Trial

If you choose to file a lawsuit and liable parties still won’t provide fair compensation, your attorney can take your case to trial. Your legal team will lead every step of a trial, as this may be foreign territory for you (but familiar waters for your experienced lawyer).

Managing Every Other Aspect of Your Case

Lawyers take a do-it-all approach to boat accident cases. This ensures you can focus on your health while your legal team:

• Develops and updates case strategy
• Completes all case-related paperwork
• Facilitates communications
• Provides you regular updates
• Oversees every other detail of your insurance claim or lawsuit

You have plenty to worry about between receiving treatment and getting your life back in order. Let an attorney handle every detail of your case.

There Are Many Reasons to Let a Tampa Boat Accident Lawyer Lead Your Case

If you are still considering whether to hire a boat accident attorney, you should know that:

• A law firm can provide total financial support for your case: You may need all the financial support you can get after your accident, and your law firm will provide plenty. Your lawyer will use a fee structure in which you don’t pay any upfront or out-of-pocket fees or costs.
• There is no suitable substitute for a boat accident lawyer’s experience: Your legal team should have years of experience representing boat accident victims in Tampa. This experience may provide tangible value to your case. Your attorney should resolve the case efficiently and convincingly because of their prior case experience.
• A law firm may have access to effective resources: Law firms invest in their clients. Many law firms hire experts, reconstruct boat accidents, and take other measures to strengthen their cases. These resources are likely more than you can afford if you handled your own boat accident case.
• You may be unprepared to lead your own lawsuit: Between injury symptoms and inexperience, you may not be well-positioned to handle your own insurance claim or lawsuit. That’s fine, as there is a qualified lawyer ready to represent you right now.

We all need help from time to time. You may be facing a daunting recovery, which means you need help as much as ever. Allow a Tampa boat accident attorney and their team to ease your burden by leading every step of your case.

Types of Boat Accidents That May Warrant Hiring a Lawyer

Much can go wrong when boating. You should seek compensation if:

• A boat driver hit you while in the water
• You were on a boat that struck ground, hit another boat, or hit a fixed object
• You suffered an injury while being pulled behind the boat
• You suffered injuries or lost a loved one under any other boat-related circumstances

Those who suffer injuries or lose loved ones from accident-related injuries should demand fair compensation from liable parties. If you have any questions about whether you are entitled to compensation, a lawyer will answer those questions for you.

Your Attorney Will Work to Prove the Liable Parties’ Negligence

Proving fault and liability is a key step in any boat accident case. Your lawyer will likely need to prove that one or more parties were negligent in causing your injuries (or a loved one’s death).

Someone is negligent when they:

• Owe you a duty of care: A duty of care requires someone to act as a reasonable person would in the same circumstances. For example, a boat driver must remain sober, drive cautiously, and take all other necessary measures to prevent an accident.
• Violate their duty of care: If someone with a duty of care violates that duty by acting negligently, they are likely responsible for resulting harm. For example, a drunk motorist who struck another boat clearly violates their duty of care.
• Cause you harm because of their breach of duty of care: When a liable party breaches their duty of care and causes you harm as a consequence, you have a right to seek compensation from that liable party.

Once your lawyer has proven these three points, they will present evidence of your damages. This will be the final step in proving that someone’s negligence has caused you measurable harm.

Recoverable Damages for Florida Boat Accident Victims

Those injured in boating accidents may suffer:

Healthcare Costs

Your attorney will gather proof of all accident-related medical records. They will rely on their medical experts to value your current and future healthcare costs.

Pain and Suffering

If you experience anxiety, physical pain, scarring, depression, or any other type of pain and suffering, your lawyer will determine the value of these damages.

Professional Harm

Your legal team will seek compensation for your professional damages, including:

• Lost income
• Lost earning power
• Missed promotion and bonus opportunities
• Lost benefits

Your attorney will learn about your past earnings and other job-related considerations to value your professional damages accurately.

The Cost of a Wrongful Death

If you lost a loved one because of injuries they suffered during a boat accident, you deserve to mourn without worrying about a lawsuit. An attorney can seek fair compensation for your damages, which may include:

• Funeral expenses
• Loss of consortium
• Grief and other types of pain and suffering
• The decedent’s pain and suffering
• Lost financial support
• All other damages caused by your loved one’s tragic passing

Let your lawyer worry about your damages and securing the compensation you deserve.

Don’t Wait to Hire Your Tampa Boat Accident Attorney

There can be non-negotiable deadlines for filing your boat accident case, so don’t wait to hire your personal injury attorney.