Marine Liability Act and Boating Accident Claims in Ontario

When someone is seriously injured in a boating accident, the case involves issues such as the Marine Liability Act, federal maritime law, insurance coverage, liability limits, and evidence that is very different from other types of personal injury cases.

This matters because serious boating accidents in Ontario cause life-changing injuries. A collision between vessels, a passenger being thrown from a boat, a propeller injury, a drowning or near-drowning, or an impact involving a personal watercraft can lead to traumatic brain injuries, spinal cord injuries, fractures, amputations, hypoxic brain injury, chronic pain, psychological trauma, or death.

For people injured in serious boating accidents, the legal questions include whether someone was negligent, whether maritime law applies, who can be sued, whether liability is limited, whether there are family claims, and whether the case involves a commercial operator, rental company, marina, tour operator, private boat owner, or another person responsible for the vessel.

Foster Injury Law represents people with serious injury claims across Ontario. You can learn more about our boating injury work here: Ontario boating accident lawyers.

What Is the Marine Liability Act?

The Marine Liability Act is federal legislation that can apply to injury and death claims involving ships, vessels, passengers, and maritime incidents in Canadian waters.

A serious boating accident on an Ontario lake, river, or waterway may still raise federal maritime law issues. The Act uses broad wording in some areas. For limitation of liability purposes, “ship” can include a vessel or craft designed, used, or capable of being used for navigation. This can include ski boats, jet-skis and other recreational watercraft that are not large commercial vessels.

How Boating Accident Claims Are Different From Car Accident Claims

The surrounding boating accidents is complete different than car accidents in Ontario.

In many Ontario car accident cases, the injured person has access to immediate treatment benefits through the insurance system. A person injured in a boating accident can bring an Ontario personal injury lawsuit against a negligent operator or other responsible party, but they do not have access to immediate treatment benefits.

Insurance can still respond to the lawsuit and pay compensation in a settlement in a boating accident. This is could be through boat insurance, homeowner’s insurance, commercial marine insurance, rental company coverage, marina coverage, or other policies. There may questions about which insurance company must respond, whether the operator was properly insured, whether the boat was being used recreationally or commercially, and whether a liability limit applies.

This is why it's important to find a boating accident lawyers who have experience handling these cases.

Who Can Be Responsible for a Boating Accident in Ontario?

Responsibility for a boating accident depends on what happened. A claim could involve a negligent boat operator who was speeding, impaired, distracted, inexperienced, or operating too close to another vessel, swimmer, dock, shoreline, or hazard. It may involve a person operating a personal watercraft without proper care. It may involve a rental company that provided unsafe equipment, failed to give proper instructions, or rented a vessel to someone who should not have been operating it.

Some cases involve commercial tours, fishing charters, water taxis, marinas, resorts, cottage rentals, organized recreational activities, or event operators. Others involve defective equipment, poor maintenance, missing safety gear, inadequate lighting, overcrowding, unsafe docking, or a failure to warn passengers about known risks.

In fatal or catastrophic boating cases, the investigation often needs to look beyond the person driving the boat since the there may not be sufficient insurance for the boat operator.

Passenger Claims Under the Marine Liability Act

Passenger cases can raise specific issues under the Marine Liability Act. Where the Act’s passenger carriage provisions apply, liability may depend on whether the injury happened in the course of carriage and whether the incident was due to the fault or neglect of the carrier or people acting within the scope of their employment.

In some situations, fault may be presumed, including where the injury is connected to a shipwreck, collision, stranding, explosion, fire, or defect in the ship.

This means that a passenger injured during a commercial boating activity may be in a different legal position than a guest injured on a friend’s privately operated pleasure craft. The facts, the relationship between the parties, the type of vessel, the purpose of the trip, and the insurance structure can all affect the lawsuit.

Liability Limits in Boating Accident Cases

One of the most important features of the Marine Liability Act is that it allows a shipowner or other protected party to have limited liability for certain maritime claims.

This is a different from many ordinary Ontario personal injury cases. A serious spinal cord injury, brain injury, amputation, or fatality can produce losses far above available liability limits. In those cases, identifying all possible defendants and all available insurance coverage becomes extremely important.

There may also be arguments about whether a defendant is entitled to rely on a liability limit at all. The right to limit liability does not apply where the loss resulted from a shipowner or salvor’s act or omission committed recklessly, with intent to cause loss, or with knowledge that the loss was likely.

That is a high threshold, but in the right case it may need to be examined carefully.

Fatal Boating Accident Claims

Fatal boating accident claims can involve both estate issues and dependant claims.

Under the Marine Liability Act, dependants may have claims where a person dies because of the fault or neglect of another person in circumstances that would have entitled the deceased person to recover damages if they had survived. The Act also allows damages for dependants of an injured person in certain circumstances.

These claims may include loss flowing from the wrongful death. The Act expressly refers to compensation for loss of guidance, care and companionship that the dependant could reasonably have expected to receive if the injury or death had not occurred.

Serious Injuries in Boating Accident Cases

Boating accidents can produce unusually severe injuries because there may be speed, water, impact, cold exposure, propellers, lack of restraints, alcohol, poor visibility, and delayed emergency response.

Common serious injuries include traumatic brain injuries, spinal cord injuries, fractures, internal injuries, severe lacerations, hypoxic brain injury from drowning or near-drowning, and psychological injuries after a frightening or fatal incident. Amputation injuries from propellors are particularly common.

In the most serious cases, the claim may involve future care costs, attendant care, rehabilitation, lost income, loss of competitive advantage, home modifications, medical equipment, pain and suffering, and family claims.

Limitation Periods in Boating Accident Cases

Limitation periods in boating accident cases can be complicated.

Some claims under the Marine Liability Act are subject to two-year limitation periods. Passenger claims under the Act may also have specific time-bar rules. Depending on the facts, there may be different deadlines for personal injury, death, property damage, contribution claims, claims involving a collision, claims against a ship, or claims involving a commercial carrier.

The safe approach is to treat a boating injury claim as urgent. Delay can make it harder to preserve evidence, identify the vessel, locate witnesses, obtain insurance information, inspect the boat, secure maintenance records, and determine which limitation period applies.

Evidence That Can Matter After a Boating Accident

Evidence in a boating case can disappear quickly. The condition of the vessel, weather, water conditions, visibility, lighting, GPS data, marina records, rental paperwork, photographs, video, witness names, police or conservation officer reports, maintenance records, alcohol evidence, safety equipment, and the operator’s training or licence status could all be important.

In serious cases, it may also be important to determine whether the boat was overloaded, whether passengers were given proper instructions, whether lifejackets were available and properly used, whether the operator was impaired, whether the vessel had mechanical problems, and whether the route or activity was unsafe.

A boating accident investigation should not be limited to asking who “caused the crash.” It should examine anything that increased the risk of the injury.

Commercial Boating, Rentals, Marinas and Resorts

Some boating claims involve more than private recreational use.

A person may be injured during a boat rental, guided fishing trip, sightseeing tour, water taxi ride, resort activity, cottage rental, marina operation, or organized recreational activity. These cases can raise additional questions about commercial standards, staff training, equipment maintenance, passenger instructions, supervision, emergency planning, insurance coverage, and whether the operator complied with applicable safety requirements.

The legal analysis is sometimes different where the injured person was a paying passenger rather than a social guest.

Can a Boating Accident Claim Include Family Claims?

Family members may have claims after a serious or fatal boating accident. These claims may include loss of care, guidance and companionship, out-of-pocket expenses, lost income in some circumstances, and services provided to the injured person.

In Ontario personal injury cases, family claims are often discussed under the Family Law Act.

Why the Marine Liability Act Matters for Serious Boating Injury Claims

In some cases, the main fight may be about negligence. However, in boating accidents the main dispute is often about whether the defendant can limit liability.

In cases with catastrophic injuries that issue can be extremely important because the injured person’s future care and income losses may be far greater than the available insurance or statutory limit.

Speak With an Ontario Boating Accident Lawyer

Our Ontario personal injury law firm is able to represent people with serious injury claims across Ontario, including boating accident claims involving significant trauma, long-term disability, and fatal injuries.

If you or a family member was seriously injured in a boating accident, it is important to understand whether the Marine Liability Act applies, who may be responsible, what insurance may be available, and whether any liability limits may affect the claim.

Learn more about our work as Ontario boating accident lawyers.