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Its the end of January and the weather for today is sunny and a high around 70. This change in the weather may conjure up in the mind of every boater the thought of de-winterizing his or her boat and heading to the lake or at least getting his or her boat ready for the next warm weekend. Many boat owners on occasion allow another, non-owner, to operate their boat on the open water. Therefore, every owner must recognize the laws of their state as it applies to liability when letting another operate thier boat or personal watercraft. This would necessarily include personal watercraft and other sea worthy crafts. Oklahoma has laws in this regard. The Oklahoma Boating Safety Act deals with liability of boat owners when they allow another to operate their boat. It must be recognized that any boat owner who operates their craft negligently and causes property damage to another’s property or injures another person while operating their boat may be liable for damages pursuant to Oklahoma Law. However, the issue becomes as to whether or not a person loaning his boat or personal watercraft to another may be held liable for that persons negligence. The Oklahoma Boating Safety Act gives us guidance in that regard. Section 4215 of the act states as follows: “The owner of a vessel shall be liable for any injury or damage occasioned by the negligent operation of such vessel, whether such negligence consists of a violation of the provisions of the statutes of this state, or the violation of any municipal ordinance, or neglecting to observe such ordinary care and such operation as the rules of the common law require. The owner shall not be liable, however, unless such vessel is being used with his express or implied consent. Nothing contained herein shall be construed to relieve any other person from any liability which he would otherwise have.” The implication of this statutory language means that in the case you allow another to operate the boat or personal watercraft you own and that person is negligent in the operation of the boat and causes personal injury or property damage to another, the boat owner can be found liable for the personal injury or property damage caused. Additionally, because most boating accidents are alcohol related, a boat owner could be subject to punitive damages over and above compensatory damages even when they were nowhere around their boat or did not cause the accident. This should make a boat owner, at least in Oklahoma, very weary of loaning his boat or personal watercraft to another. At least the boat owner or personal watercraft owner must keep in mind how important it is to make sure the person operating your boat or personal watercraft is competent in the crafts operation and has not consumed alcohol immediately prior to the operation of your boat or personal watercraft. A boat owner also must keep in mind that they, in an effort to protect themselves, should obtain liability insurance on their boat and if they allow others to operate their boat or personal watercraft to make sure that the liability insurance also covers them in the case of negligence due to a permissive user of their boat. Lawyer Don Bolt is an attorney with www.LawyerAdviceNow.com and www.TulsaLawyerAdvice.com
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