Boat Manufacturer Liability and Negligence
A products liability claim is usually based on one or more of the following causes of action:
- Defective design
- Manufacturing defect
- Failure to warn
A case may succeed even when the vessel was used incorrectly by the operator, as long as the incorrect use was foreseeable by the manufacturer (or other party in the manufacturer’s supply chain).
Negligence concepts include the following: negligence per se (manufacturer’s violation of a law, regulation, etc.) and res ipsa loquitur (some form of conditional negligence).
Examples of Boat or Vessel Products Liability Cases:
- Defective restraint systems
- Defective product design
- Defective manufacturing design causing crash, drowning, operation
- Capacity, poor crash rating; crashworthiness
- Structural defects in vessel design
MORE INFORMATION
The term “vessel” includes every description of watercraft or other artificial contrivance used, or capable of being used, as a means of transportation on the water. Terms used to describe the various types of watercraft are: airboats, auxiliary sailboats, cabin motorboat, canoe, fishing boat, houseboat, inflatable boat, kayak, open motorboat, personal watercraft, pontoon boat, raft, rowboat, and sailboat.
A vessel is considered to be involved in a “boating accident” and may be subject to review as a Product Liability case whenever a death, missing person, personal injury, property damage, or total vessel loss results from the vessel’s operation, construction, seaworthiness, equipment, or machinery.
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