Liability Management When Friends Dive From Your Recreational Boat?

[Scraps]

I bought a boat.

It will be used exclusively for recreational, non-commercial purposes.

I want to invite friends to fish and dive with me from time to time.

Because I have a master's license, I want to be able to demonstrate that the passengers are aboard as friends, not customers, even if they choose to contribute toward the costs of the voyage.

Because I am a dive instructor, I want to be able to demonstrate that these friends are certified divers diving without my supervision to whom I don't have a special duty of care, even if they happen to be former dive students of mine.

How do I accomplish these objectives? A couple friends suggested various measures, including:

--Requiring all divers to have a current DAN membership;
--Not lending passengers any dive gear or tools so I'm not responsible for any gear casualties;
--Making them sign an acknowledgment that makes it airtight that they are friends, not passengers for hire;
--Making them sign some sort of waiver or release from liability.

Some of these ideas seem excessive and contrary to the social atmosphere I want to promote, but are they prudent measures I should seriously consider? (I do sort of like the idea of requiring DAN membership: if they get hurt and their costs are already covered, they're less likely to come after me, right?)

I welcome thoughts from boat owners, dive professionals, licensed mariners, attorneys, and other Scubaboard members.

Thanks.

 

[Bored]

I am neither an instructor or boat captain. This really sounds like you should consult an attorney.

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

There are less than a dozen people whom I'd allow to dive off my boat. I'd be very catious and as @B1997 said, consult an attorney.

 

[Celt]

You have a duty of care to everyone on board whether passengers ( paying) or visitors, inquire about insurance. Passengers and visitors are entitled to freedom from negligence on the part of the vessel
owners or their employees, freedom from reasonably preventable injury by other passengers or visitors, and freedom from intentional misconduct of the vessel owners or their employees. Under the doctrine of attractive nuisance, vessel owners who fail to anticipate and protect against a child’s natural attraction to certain dangerous conditions may be held liable for injuries to children thus lured into danger

 

[Searcaigh]

Check the laws in Florida and as mentioned above consult legal advice ($$$).

A good friend of mine who owned a boat from which we dived every weekend had an incident when one diver did not surface. This was in Fujairah, UAE, where Sharia laws take precedent.

In short, he spent three weeks in prison, was fined AED100,000, and he ended up selling the boat and left the country about six months later. He had a very good job with Emirates Airlines, who from all accounts supported him very well.

An Indian national that we occasionally hired to drive the boat, was in prison for two months and then deported for driving the boat without the correct paperwork.

 

[Scraps]

Very sobering feedback. Thanks.

 

[Lorenzoid]

Have you searched for old threads on this topic? I know it has been discussed a lot. The discussions usually focus on the effect of your guests paying for gas. The measures you listed look like good ideas. I'm a lawyer, this is not my area of expertise, and if I owned a boat and lived in Florida I'd consult a Florida lawyer who has some expertise in this area. Have them draft up some waivers for you. I don't recommend cobbling one together based on stuff you found online and don't REALLY understand.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

In this day and age anyone can file a suit for anything. Even if they don’t win you still have to spend money to defend yourself.
I had a boat for several years and had many different people on it. I look back and think about some of the things that happened that didn’t seem like a big deal then but in hindsight I realize I was damn lucky as it could have been a lot worse. Nobody ever got hurt but some people did some pretty bone head stuff.
Knowing what I know now I would not let any of those people on my boat ever.
You just never know.
A friend of a friend, or friend of a dive buddy, many or most you never met or dived with. This is where it starts.

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

You have a duty of care to everyone on board whether passengers ( paying) or visitors, inquire about insurance. Passengers and visitors are entitled to freedom from negligence on the part of the vessel
owners or their employees, freedom from reasonably preventable injury by other passengers or visitors, and freedom from intentional misconduct of the vessel owners or their employees. Under the doctrine of attractive nuisance, vessel owners who fail to anticipate and protect against a child’s natural attraction to certain dangerous conditions may be held liable for injuries to children thus lured into danger

@Scraps

This is why I don't allow people on my boat. Misconduct on my part is guaranteed every time I take my boat out!

(I kid, I kid).

 

[Ana]

We were very concerned when we bought our boat also. Not that husband or I are instructors but what if a friend gets hurt and their family decides to shove a lawyer to us.

Turns out we usually have the same 1 or 2 people, and only once in a blue moon. After more than 15 years nothing even close to the imagined issues .

Maybe we are too antisocial, but reality is that people are busy doing their thing and for the most part they can't fit your boat trips in their schedule .

Worry about you and your diving off your boat