Legal : marina liabilities???

[emsworthy]

I assume I am entering into a short-term contract when I pay for a night?

There are two examples of case law worth citing (just to scare people!) that may be relevant to a marina attempting to use this as a get out clause even if your receipt did have one. They are:

Chapleton v Barry UDC (1940) [deckchair hire] and
Thornton v Shoe Lane Parking Ltd (1971) [car parking]

In both instances the service provider was successfully sued for loss or damages despite the receipt or ticket stating they would accept no liabilty... Simply because the contract was entered into before theses clauses could have been known. ie you pays your money then get the receipt.

In the case of Shoe Lane Parking, and probably most marinas if you arrive after the office has closed and are tide-bound, the court found that the plaintiff was committed to being there even if they didn't like the terms on the ticket/receipt.

No mistaking; They have a duty of care.

 

[Evadne]

Doing a quick google for the unfair contract terms act it would seem that anything that can be deemed negligence or unreasonable behaviour in law cannot be exempted by a written contract:

Negligence liability

(1)A person cannot by reference to any contract term or to a notice given to persons generally or to particular persons exclude or restrict his liability for death or personal injury resulting from negligence.

(2)In the case of other loss or damage, a person cannot so exclude or restrict his liability for negligence except in so far as the term or notice satisfies the requirement of reasonableness.

(3)Where a contract term or notice purports to exclude or restrict liability for negligence a person’s agreement to or awareness of it is not of itself to be taken as indicating his voluntary acceptance of any risk.

 

[ricky_s]

Think I should claim on Premier's insurance because of their dodgy pontoons.

Everytime I try to moor when it is windy, my pontoon seem to swing around and hit my boat on the side. Sometimes it even forces me into the boat next to me.

 

[Tranona]

Think I should claim on Premier's insurance because of their dodgy pontoons.

Everytime I try to moor when it is windy, my pontoon seem to swing around and hit my boat on the side. Sometimes it even forces me into the boat next to me.

Dodgy ground there! First there must be a damage or loss. Then you must be able to show that it was the result of their negligence. Guess if you were mooring the boat they would claim that you were either incompetent or did not take sufficient precautions to avoid damage!

Different if their pontoon came loose and damaged your boat when you were not there.

 

[Chris_Robb]

There are two examples of case law worth citing (just to scare people!) that may be relevant to a marina attempting to use this as a get out clause even if your receipt did have one. They are:

Chapleton v Barry UDC (1940) [deckchair hire] and
Thornton v Shoe Lane Parking Ltd (1971) [car parking]

In both instances the service provider was successfully sued for loss or damages despite the receipt or ticket stating they would accept no liabilty... Simply because the contract was entered into before theses clauses could have been known. ie you pays your money then get the receipt.

In the case of Shoe Lane Parking, and probably most marinas if you arrive after the office has closed and are tide-bound, the court found that the plaintiff was committed to being there even if they didn't like the terms on the ticket/receipt.

No mistaking; They have a duty of care.

I agree - there is no way they can avoid a duty of care. There is also a law known as unfair trade terms . This means effectively that the small print buried in a contract may be unreasonable, and the court will ignore it. This is especially the case if the contract was NOT negotiated by you in any way. If you have negotiated the contract, you may well be assumed to have read and therefore accepted the unfair terms. So I guess its better not to read the contract!.

Where it comes to extreme weather, I don't think that they can be held liable, unless they have made misleading statements like " the Marina is secure in all weathers" when it is open to Swell in SE gale. However I would argue that it is the boat owners responsibility to find out in what kind of weather it is not secure. Pilots very often give this info, and your own eyes can tell you a lot more. Sometimes of course the weather is just plain overwhelming as was shown in that video of a winter storm in Marmaris marina.

If on lifting the boat a strop breaks, then that surely must be their fault or they will have to counter sue their supplier. Again, if they have remoored your vessel improperly - then thay cannot avoid paying.... Though as some one said - avoid Lawyers at any cost....