Liability and Boats - What are Your Liability Exposures?

PANAMA CITY, FL - Liability claims are rare but are among the most serious and costly if they happen. As a homeowner, you are responsible for everyone that you have given permission to access your property. These guests are called invitees. All invitees have coverage from your homeowner’s policy, if they were to get hurt on your property. As a homeowner, you are responsible for warning all invitees of any hazards on your property that could give rise to injury. Some of these warnings include things like broken steps, unsecured stair rails, loose carpeting and unlit areas. 

One thing to remember is just because someone gets hurt on your property doesn’t mean there is payment to be made. The homeowner must have knowledge of the hazard. There must be some kind of negligence on the side of the homeowner for a liability settlement to be awarded. 

Children are the responsibility of their parents whether the children are at home sending questionable photos of friends to other friends or playing ball in a vacant lot down the street and damaging property. The parents’ homeowner’s policy will come into play for the children’s actions, which is another reason to make sure you know where your kids are and what they are doing online and offline. 

Would you insure a boat with a value of $4,000? One owner decided it was not worth it and didn’t purchase the $375/year policy. As the story goes, on his first ride out on the boat, he scraped the bottom, the damage was worse than he initially thought and the boat sank! He was responsible for the haul out to the tune of a $40,000 price tag! If he had insured the boat, this would have been paid for with the pollution and haul out coverage, up to $1,000,000. 

Many accidents have happened due to young drivers on golf carts. Golf carts need to have their own policy. Don’t trust your homeowner’s policy to pay for an accident involving a golf cart unless it’s on the golf course. The homeowner’s liability is limited to motorized land conveyances servicing the property only. Many homeowners’ policies have an endorsement to extend coverage to a golf cart however they can’t be street legal. Street legal golf carts are insured as an auto on your auto policy. 

In Florida, now there is a limitation on the ability to be paid anything on a liability claim if the person injured is found to be 51% at fault or more. There was also a statute of limitations change in 2023 of two years from the date of injury for most personal injury lawsuits.

Umbrella policies are an additional layer of protection between injuries and your assets. Umbrella policies are not expensive and only pay after the homeowners policy pays the maximum liability first. An umbrella will not pay anything if there is no underlying policy that pays first. For example, if you have a boat and a friend falls out of the boat while you are driving unsafely, an umbrella policy will not pay if there is no insurance on the boat that pays first. 

Sitting down with your local agent that can help you navigate your personal exposures is the best way to protect yourself against an unwanted lawsuit.