Partner
Mark J. Miller
Mark's biography describes work in insurance defense and prosecution before his plaintiff-side practice. That background informs the firm's evaluation of liability disputes and insurance positions.
Your receipt, the captain, and the boat may name different parties
Miami Boating Accident Lawyer
An outing booked in Miami may involve a booking service, a charter business, a boat owner, and a captain hired separately. After an injury, being sent from one to another can leave you unsure where to turn. Miller & Jacobs helps trace those roles, review the trip terms, and investigate how the injury occurred. We assess the claim without assuming that the company taking payment controlled everything on the water.
The consultation is free. For an injury matter the firm accepts, no attorney fee is owed unless compensation is recovered. The written agreement explains fees and costs.
$300M+
Reported Recoveries for Injured Clients
50+ Years
Combined Legal Experience
230+
Combined Jury Trials Across Their Careers
Former Prosecutors
Experienced Trial Attorneys
Follow the booking through to the actual boat
Put a name beside each role before accepting a denial.
A confirmation in an app may use a trading name that differs from the business on the agreement. The person who met you at a Miami marina may work for someone else. Keep those distinctions. The aim is to find who undertook each task, not to assume every company connected to the outing owes damages.
Who sold or arranged the trip?
Keep the listing, receipt, payment record, and full messages. Note promises about the boat, crew, boarding, or planned activity. What a business agreed to supply should be compared with what it actually supplied. An advertisement alone does not settle who operated the vessel.
Which vessel was supplied?
Record the boat name, registration or other identifying details, and any substitution made on the day. Photos already on your phone may help distinguish the advertised vessel from the one used. Tell the attorney if the booking, waiver, and boat display different names.
Who directed the outing?
Identify the captain, anyone giving safety or boarding instructions, and who chose them. A private owner, renter, and hired operator can have different duties. Our borrowed-boat liability discussion explains why permission to use a vessel does not answer every fault question.
Read the terms against the actual voyage
The route, contract, and passenger’s role can change the legal analysis.
Leaving a Miami dock does not make every incident a Florida-law case. Federal maritime law may apply based on the place and nature of the activity. Passenger terms, crew status, and the parties involved can affect where and when a claim must be pursued. Review these questions before relying on a general deadline.
When Florida negligence law governs
For many negligence claims arising after March 24, 2023, Florida section 95.11 provides a two-year period. Older events, other claims, and exceptions need separate review. This is not the deadline to assume just because a trip began or ended in Florida.
When the claim is a maritime tort
46 U.S.C. section 30106 generally allows three years for a maritime personal-injury or death tort claim unless another law supplies a different rule. The incident must fit that framework. The statute does not give every water-related claim the same filing period.
What the ticket or agreement adds
Read all linked terms, not just the signature page. Passenger contracts may impose enforceable notice, suit, or forum requirements. A worker or crew member may have rights different from a recreational passenger. A waiver also needs review under the governing law; neither its title nor a signature alone decides its effect.
You may remember the moment better than the company names
Describe what you experienced. Leave the gaps visible.
You might remember a sharp turn, a failed step, or instructions to move without knowing the speed or technical cause. Record your own observations and where you were positioned. Separate what you saw from what another passenger later told you. That distinction helps the account remain useful.
Medical care and safety come first. Do not return to an unsafe boat or recreate a maneuver for a photo. Keep the files and messages you already have. Missing a captain’s surname or an exact coordinate need not prevent an initial discussion about how the records could be found.
Explain the movement that caused harm
A collision, a boarding injury, and failed equipment leave different records.
The investigation should explain how the alleged conduct or condition caused the injury. A passenger’s fall does not prove careless operation, and a broken item does not by itself prove a defect. Match the account to the relevant witnesses, physical evidence, and records held by others.
Movement during the trip
Describe where you stood or sat, any instructions, and what the boat was doing just before the injury. Available recordings, navigation information, conditions, and witness accounts may help test the sequence. Preserve the original time information instead of editing it to match someone else’s recollection.
Stepping aboard or ashore
Identify the dock, vessel, ladder or gangway, the person directing boarding, and what moved or failed. Whether the injury happened ashore, at the connection, or aboard matters. Property control and maritime questions may overlap; do not choose the legal framework from the word dock alone.
A failed item or emergency response
Keep identifying details for the item and the agency or staff who responded. Florida's vessel-incident law addresses assistance, identification, and reporting duties. Reports and repair records may supply useful leads, but a report is not a final civil finding. Preserve evidence without handling unsafe equipment.
Make sense of the names and documents
Bring the confirmation and the correspondence you received afterward.
Call 954-465-8733 for a free consultation. We can begin with the booking, the injury date, and your account, then discuss what is missing. If the firm accepts the matter, representation and its terms are explained in the written agreement.
Our South Florida office is at 1600 S Federal Highway, Suite 1101, Pompano Beach, FL 33062. Call 954-465-8733 before visiting.
View Pompano Beach office directionsWhen a company offers to close the matter
Compare the proposed release with the full injury claim.
Our Miami injury practice overview describes the broader claims process. A boating offer also needs review of the voyage, the proper parties, and any maritime or contract rules. A refund for an outing and settlement of an injury are not necessarily the same transaction.
What the medical record supports
Connect the first treatment to later care, even if you receive it outside Miami. Keep bills, restrictions, missed-pay records, and the care team's advice. Separate documented future needs from options that are still being considered. Neither a trip's price nor a vessel's value sets the amount of the claim.
What the insurer is actually accepting
Keep the insurer's written position, policy details, and claim number. Check who is insured, what activity the policy covers, and any limits or exclusions. A statement that a captain is insured does not establish coverage for every person, vessel, or part of the outing.
What signing would end
Find every person or business named in the release, the claims covered, and the conditions of payment. Consider unresolved care and other possible defendants before signing. Negotiations should not be assumed to pause a notice or filing date. No result or payment can be promised.
Miller & Jacobs
Partners who can untangle the claim with you.
Mark J. Miller and Rick S. Jacobs serve Miami clients from the firm's Pompano Beach office. Your consultation can address the booking chain, the incident, and the legal decisions the records raise.
Partner
Rick S. Jacobs
Rick's biography describes his service as an Assistant State Attorney in Miami-Dade County and his trial work. Read the published background for details of his professional experience.
Passenger concerns
Questions when the booking and the incident do not line up
Is the booking platform the company I should pursue?
Not necessarily. Review its role, the contract, and who actually supplied and ran the outing. Keep the platform messages even if another company contacts you about the claim. Taking payment and controlling the vessel are different facts.
What if I know only the captain's first name?
Keep the booking contact, departure details, photos, messages, and any crew descriptions you recall. Those records may help identify the person and their employer. State what you know without guessing at a surname or treating another passenger's guess as confirmed.
Most of my records are in an app. What should I keep?
Preserve the original account history where you can, along with the listing, conversation, payment receipt, and all contract terms. Screenshots may help, but they can omit dates, links, or attachments. Do not alter or delete the underlying messages after saving copies.
Does an injury while boarding belong in a boating claim?
Possibly. The exact location, equipment, activity, and parties involved determine which claims should be assessed. Describe whether you were on the dock, a boarding device, or the vessel. A label such as marina injury does not resolve the governing law.
What if passengers remember different locations?
Keep each account separate and preserve time-stamped photos, messages, and route details. Navigation or response records may help resolve the difference. Do not make the accounts agree by changing uncertain details. Location may affect more than which business receives the first letter.
Another passenger received an offer. Does it value my injury?
No. Their injury, losses, evidence, coverage, and release may differ. Keep your own treatment and work records and review any offer addressed to you. Another settlement is not a reliable formula for your claim.
Related guidance