Recreational Accidents

CHARITY FREEMAN

Well the weather has finally warmed up in the Midwest and that means people can finally get outside and enjoy some of those recreational sporting activities they love to do like jet skiing or boating, being outdoors with your family and friends, but unfortunately sometimes those can lead to serious accidents which cause injury or sometimes even death. Today we are here with attorney David Farnbauch from the Sweeney Law Firm to talk about the legal claims that can arise from those recreational accidents. Thanks for joining us today David.

DAVID FARNBAUCH

Great to be here.

CHARITY FREEMAN

David, over the years the number of recreational accidents has risen significantly. You have been handling recreational accident claims for over 25 years. Why do you think that number has been on the rise? 

DAVID FARNBAUCH

Well I think that there are so many recreational accidents these days because so many people have recreational vehicles these days now compared to prior eras. we see lots of cases involving jet skis and water related accidents and those types of recreational vehicles.

CHARITY FREEMAN

Now are there specific rules and regulations that apply to watercraft like the rules of the road that motorists have to abide by when driving a car?

DAVID FARNBAUCH

There are actually a number of rules and regulations that govern watercraft in the state of Indiana.

CHARITY FREEMAN 

Now what legal responsibilities do owners of boats, jet skis, and swimming pools even have when someone gets injured using those things?

DAVID FARNBAUCH

I would say that the most important duty that the owner of a watercraft has is to make sure that the watercraft comes into the hands of a person that knows how to operate the boat or the jet ski or whatever watercraft that we are talking about. The most common type of case that we see is where the watercraft comes into the hands of a person that does not know how to operate the equipment and there is an accident.

CHARITY FREEMAN

Now I am curious as to whether the owners of recreational vehicles and watercraft have to carry personal liability insurance or are those things covered under someone's automobile insurance?

DAVID FARNBAUCH

Most of the time when we bring a personal injury case arising from a watercraft accident there is liability insurance that covers vehicles. Most of the time the liability insurance falls under the owners homeowner's policy as opposed to their auto insurance policy.

CHARITY FREEMAN

Now David it would think that cases involving a boating accident would be a lot more complex than a regular run-of-the-mill injury case like a car accident. Do you find that these cases are significantly more challenging?

DAVID FARNBAUCH

I think watercraft accidents are more complicated than the run-of-the-mill injury case for a couple of reasons. First of all, most of the time when we deal with the watercraft accident it involves very catastrophic injury oftentimes in these cases unfortunately we're dealing with somebody that has severe injuries or they've died as a result of a watercraft accident. The other thing that makes these cases more complex is the need for investigation. Oftentimes these cases will involve an event that occurs over a number of hours with a lot of participants, so it is critical to do an early investigation and interview all Of the participants in the accident early in the case.  

CHARITY FREEMAN

What advice would you give someone who's been seriously injured in a recreational activity or sporting activity and maybe interested in pursuing a legal claim?

DAVID FARNBAUCH

Well the first advice that I would give anybody that has been involved in any kind of recreational accident is to refrain from giving any kind of a statement to an insurance adjuster or an investigator without at least obtaining some kind of legal advice. Then the other thing that I would recommend, is if there's been a bad accident involving some sort of recreational accident it's important to get a hold of an attorney that handled these types of cases before.

CHARITY FREEMAN

David thanks so much for visiting with us today and giving us some valuable information.

DAVID FARNBAUCH

You're welcome. It was a pleasure to be here.