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Old 04-15-2014, 11:50 AM   #29
BandB
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City: Fort Lauderdale. Florida, USA
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Quote:
Originally Posted by yachtbrokerguy View Post
Many years ago when I was doing a lot of deliveries as a licensed captain I tried to buy insurance and was told it was not available, that the owners boat insurance covered the boat and me.
If you went to court it would be the word of a USCG licensed captain against a boat owner who hired the captain due to lack of knowledge.
From my limited knowledge of maritime law it is based on English common law. Crew members were in the eyes of the law were ignorant and needed protection from smart business owners and that attitude prevails to this day.
For the amount of money involved here it is time to move on.
Actually many captains today, especially those with businesses, do have business liability insurance. Most have set their businesses up as legal entities and gotten it through that entity.

And I agree. The Plaintiff needs a preponderance of the evidence and to achieve that would need the testimony of someone at least equal to the Captain in expertise. And one has to prove not just that it turned out to be a mistake, but that there was negligence involved in what led to the problem. Owner's testimony carries relatively little weight on it's own. Could owner get a good lawyer, who brings in an expert witness and ultimately win if it ever got to court? Probably, but the cost of justice is sometimes very high.

When I was young that was something I had to learn, that right just wasn't always worth proving. Vendors and contractors would do less than good jobs and would negotiate what to pay but end up paying more than it was worth. Still it just wasn't worth doing anything else. Better just a lesson learned and a vendor not to use again and be thankful it wasn't worse. Occasionally my wife and I both still have to tell the other over something to "just let it go." We know we're right in our stance, it's just not worth continuing the battle. Recently we got horrible food at a restaurant. The steaks were tough, the potatoes cold, the salad wilted. We spoke to the waitress who obviously didn't care and there was no manager there. We weren't given any consideration. But there was really nothing more to do. Well, other than a bad review, which the good ones they had must have been family members.
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