Rafting & Insurance

CaptainGrumpy

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After reading YM about insurance and lawsuit, I wonder who would be held responsible in the following case : while on a mooring, a yacht wants to raft. you ask them if they have insurance, they say they don't, you ask them to go elsewhere but the harbor master decides to allow them to raft. While securing his lines on your deck, the skipper trips and break his leg. Later, his wife starts a galley fire and partially destroy your boat. They do not have any cash to replace your boat but still sue you for personnal injury sustained on your yacht. Can you claim against the harbour master ?

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l'escargot

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They would also have to prove negligence on your part for a personal injury claim, and failing that they wouldn't be able to afford to sue you as they have no money.

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AlexL

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I'm not sure about boat insurance, but for comprehensive vehicle insurance your own insurers would pay you for your damage, and then it is up to your insurance company to persue the legal case, if indeed there is one.
I had a similar thing happen with my car a few years back where a uninsured car (with fake registration) parked next to mine and then caught fire and damged my (brand new) car. My insurance company picked up the tab for repairs, but I paid the £200 excess, lost 1 year no claims and had an 'at fault' claim on my insurance record, all of which are classified as 'uninsured losses'. At this point you can decide wether to persue a legal claim for the uninsured losses, but we all decided it was not worth it - so i lost a couple of hundred quid, BUT the main point is that my car was repaired and the main losses were picked up by the insurance co regardless.


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I have a feeling that you cannot moor on a public point etc. without having at least third party ins. OK - so no-one checks it, but I'm sure that if anyone was to do as posted - it would soon start to happen .....

Excuse me, any berths ???? Got Insurance ? Yep ! Pontoon B4 ....... have a good stay - that'll be 20 quid please !

I suppose only really trailer-sailer launch and go guys may be ones without insurance if any ?? I don't think there'll be many. BUT probably the most without insurance will be Speedboat and Jet-Ski jockeys ???? and they can really do some damage !!!!


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vyv_cox

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Maybe I'm more cynical than you but I doubt if more than about 50% of boat owners have insurance. I would assume that the larger ones over 25 - 30 ft bought new in the past 15 years or so would be covered, but how about all the others? I'd be very surprised if they all were.

I don't recall ever being asked for proof of insurance. At one time, as a race organiser, we used to ask to see proof of insurance. We were then advised that we could become liable in the event of an incident and the advice was to stop doing this. Maybe this is the reason that marina operators don't ask for it.

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dickh

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Where I moor at Felixstowe Ferry, you have to put your insurance details on the yearly application form for a mooring, and I believe most marinas insist on it - but wether they actually ask to see the paperwork I don't know.

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Jaguar

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For the Harbour Master to be held liable, negligence would need to be demonstrated. Assuming no other extraneous factors, the simple act of rafting is well recognised, and so the question of liability would be difficult to prove.

As for the other skipper tripping on your boat, there are two points here. For him to claim against you he would need to demonstrate negligence on your part. i.e. did you spill any cooking oil on your deck, or did you have any ropes trailing across the deck at tripping height? Probably not. Provided your deck was safe, the courts would probably side with you - accidents can and do happen, and most courts are keen to avoid the American interpretation of liability. However, some curious results still emerge from the courts. If your deck was not safe to walk across, then the other skipper might have a case. Did you attempt to prevent the other boat from berthing agianst you? If not, you might be deemed to have acquiesced to the Harbour Masters decision. Did you make the Harbour Master aware of particular dangers on your deck, did you erect danger signs? If course, this is silly, but these are the sorts of things that might be asked in a court. The safets bet is not to raft up.

Just over a year ago I had a boat raft up to me on the same bouy without my knowledge or agreement and under the Habour Masters instructions. That same night a combination of wind and swell caused my fairleads to be ripped out and the railings to be damaged by the other yachts lines. The other yachts insurers refused to cough up for damages for nearly nine months stating that the Harbour Master should be held liable. They did howveer eventually pay for all of the damage.

Going back to your case, I think the issue of liability is still very grey. Does anyone out there know of any case law examples of third party claims for trips and falls while crossing someone elses boat to get to theirs?



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