Maritime Negligence / Fishing Charter Vessel

On October 19, 2019, our client was a fare-paying passenger aboard a fishing charter vessel departing from Hillsboro Inlet in Pompano Beach for an offshore fishing trip. Approximately ten to fifteen minutes after departure, the captain failed to properly navigate a large wave. Rather than slowing the vessel, adjusting course, or warning passengers of the approaching hazard, the captain drove straight into it. The vessel violently dropped and slammed back upward at high velocity. Our client -- standing on the port side of the vessel, holding onto the outer railing as any reasonable passenger would -- was thrown into the air and slammed into the hard deck floor.

He was not told to sit. He was never warned about rough seas. No deckhand was posted at a forward position to monitor conditions and communicate with the captain. No guidance was given to passengers on how to safely endure the passage. The captain simply failed -- at navigation, at seamanship, and at the most basic duty owed to a paying passenger.

The injuries were severe. Our client sustained a compound fracture of his right fibula and tibia requiring open reduction internal fixation surgery -- plates and screws surgically implanted to stabilize the shattered bone. He was hospitalized for five days following the incident. He was a mechanical engineer employed at the time of the accident. He lost all time from work since the incident and was placed on disability. Slow healing complicated his recovery. His medical treatment spanned multiple states and multiple providers over the course of the litigation.

We filed suit in Broward County against the charter company and its captain. The defense raised limitation of liability arguments under federal maritime law and denied negligence. We overcame those defenses, proceeded to mediation, and resolved the case for $400,000 -- without ever taking a single deposition.

We established maritime negligence on a clear factual record. The captain's failures were numerous and well-documented -- failure to maintain a safe speed, failure to warn passengers, failure to post a lookout, failure to direct passengers to sit, failure to slow for known wave conditions. The defense denied everything. We built a liability record that made those denials difficult to sustain.

We overcame the limitation of liability defense. The defense raised 46 U.S.C. Section 30501 et seq. -- the federal Limitation of Liability Act -- as an affirmative defense, attempting to cap any recovery to the value of the vessel. We addressed this defense head-on and it did not prevent a full recovery at mediation.

We documented a career-altering injury on a working professional. A mechanical engineer who lost all time from work from the date of the accident, placed on disability, facing a slow-healing compound fracture that required surgery and spanned treatment across multiple states -- the damages picture was substantial. We presented it fully and let the medical record do the work.

We resolved efficiently -- before depositions. Filing suit, pursuing discovery, and applying mediation pressure produced a $400,000 result without a single deposition being taken. That efficiency reflects both the strength of the liability record and the pressure of an impending trial that the defense wanted to avoid.