A boat crash is governed by different law than a car crash. The federal Marine Liability Act sets the rules for most of what follows a collision on the water, and it does not work the way provincial car insurance works. This post covers what to do in the first hour, who to report to, how the Act limits a claim, and which limitation period applies in each Atlantic province.
Do not leave the scene. Leaving a marine collision can bring criminal charges and will damage any civil claim you bring later. Get everyone safe first. Then start recording what happened.
Secure the Vessel and Check for Injuries
Stop the boat if it is safe to do so. Cut the engine so nobody in the water is hit by the propeller and so fuel does not ignite. Count your passengers. Make sure each one has a flotation device on.
Check for injuries. A boat has no seatbelts, so an impact throws people against the hull or over the side. Anyone hurt or missing is a medical emergency, and that comes before anything else in this post.
Issue a Distress Call
If the boat is sinking, disabled, or anyone is seriously hurt, use the VHF radio. Broadcast a Mayday on Channel 16, which the Canadian Coast Guard monitors. Give your GPS position, what has happened, and how many people are aboard.
No marine radio means a cell phone call to 911. Cell coverage on the open Atlantic and in much of the Bay of Fundy is poor, so carry flares and an emergency beacon as the backup.
Prevent Further Collisions
A disabled boat sitting in a channel is a hazard to every other vessel using it. If the boat still runs, move it out of the main channel. Anchor so it does not drift onto rocks or into deeper water.
At night or in fog, turn on all navigation lights and use the air horn to warn approaching boats. A second collision on top of the first is the outcome you most want to avoid.
Every Serious Boating Accident Must Be Reported
Canadian law requires a report for any boating accident that causes injury, death, or significant property damage. Not reporting can mean fines, and it leaves the claim without an official record. Which agency takes the report depends on where the crash happened and how bad it was.
Do not leave the report to the other boater. Make it yourself. The report is one of the best pieces of evidence the claim will have.
Contacting Local Police and the RCMP
Injury, death, or significant damage means calling the police. In rural Atlantic Canada that usually means the RCMP. Officers will look at whether alcohol, drugs, or criminal negligence played a part.
Answer their questions with the facts. Do not admit fault. Ask for the report number before the officers leave.
The Role of Transport Canada
Transport Canada regulates marine safety nationally. For commercial vessel collisions and serious recreational crashes it may open its own investigation into the cause. Its investigators can inspect vessels and interview witnesses.
If Transport Canada contacts you, speak to a lawyer first. Mike Murphy Law Group deals with these federal inquiries.
The Marine Liability Act and the Boat’s Policy Set the Limits of the Claim
The Marine Liability Act is the federal statute that governs watercraft injury claims, and the boat’s policy decides who pays. Watercraft injuries fall under a mix of federal and provincial law. The Act applies on every navigable water in Canada, ocean, lake, or river, and it overrides many provincial personal injury rules.
The Act and the policy on the boat together decide the financial limits of the claim.
How the Marine Liability Act Limits Claims
The Act sets a maximum amount an injured person can recover from a vessel owner. The maximum is calculated from the tonnage of the at-fault vessel. A catastrophic injury can therefore hit a federal ceiling that has nothing to do with the injury itself.
Provincial car accident claims have no equivalent. Anyone settling a boat claim without knowing the tonnage limit is guessing at the claim’s real value.
Passenger Claims Versus Operator Claims
A passenger on a boat that crashes has a direct claim against that boat’s operator, who owes a duty of care to everyone aboard.
An operator struck by another vessel has to prove the other operator’s negligence caused the crash. The negligence claim then runs through the Act and the other boat’s liability policy.
Evidence on the Water Has to Be Recorded the Same Day
Photographs, the other boater’s details, and witness names have to be collected at the scene, because evidence on the water does not last. Boats sink, the weather changes, and witnesses leave. If you are physically able, record the scene before any of that happens.
Adjusters deny liability wherever the evidence lets them. Good photographs and named witnesses close those gaps.
Documenting the Damage and Conditions
Photograph every vessel involved. Take wide shots that show where the boats sit relative to each other, then close shots of hull damage, paint transfer, and broken equipment.
Record the conditions at the time of the crash: sky, water surface, shoreline, tide, wind, and any fog or rain that cut visibility.
Collecting Information From the Other Boater
Get the other operator’s name and Pleasure Craft Operator Card number, and the registration number on the bow of the boat.
Get the name of their insurer and the policy number. Do not discuss who caused the crash.
Identifying and Interviewing Witnesses
There are no traffic cameras on the water, so witnesses matter more than they do on a highway. Other boaters, people on nearby docks, and passengers on the other vessel all count. Take full names, phone numbers, and email addresses.
Ask each witness to write a short account on the spot. A statement written the same day is worth more than one recalled months later.
Marine Insurance Is Optional, Specialised, and Often Absent
No law requires a recreational boat to be insured, and where a policy exists it is a specialised contract with its own exclusions. Marine adjusters work from those exclusions. The Act and the policy wording together decide the outcome.
An adjuster’s job is to reduce what the insurer pays. Expect arguments that you caused the crash or that the injury existed before it.
Canadian law does not require a recreational boat owner to carry insurance. Many at-fault boaters have none. When that happens the claim turns to the uninsured watercraft provisions in your own marine or homeowner’s policy, and Mike Murphy Law Group reads every available policy to find coverage that responds.
If no policy responds, the remaining route is a direct lawsuit against the at-fault operator personally. That requires finding out whether they have assets to pay a judgment, which the firm investigates before advising on it.
Types of Marine Insurance Policies
Watercraft insurance splits into Hull and Machinery coverage, which pays for damage to the boat, and Protection and Indemnity (P&I) coverage, which pays third-party liability including injury claims.
Small pleasure craft are sometimes insured under a homeowner’s policy instead of a marine policy. Working out which policy responds is the first step, and the Act and the policy wording decide it.
Why You Should Not Give a Recorded Statement
The other boater’s insurer will call soon after the crash and ask for a recorded statement. You have no legal obligation to give one.
Decline and refer the adjuster to your lawyer. Recorded statements are used to fix your account early and read it back against you later.
The Marine Liability Act and Boat Insurance Decide How Compensation Is Paid
A person injured on the water can claim for their losses, but the federal limits described above can change the expected figure substantially. Document and categorise each financial loss as it happens.
Marine policies rarely include no-fault medical benefits. A New Brunswick car policy pays Section B benefits regardless of fault; a boat policy usually pays nothing until fault is proven. Recovery therefore depends on proving the other operator was negligent, and then claiming against that operator’s liability policy.
Once fault is established, the claim covers general damages and special damages. New Brunswick courts set general damages by the severity of the injury and the awards in comparable cases.
Claiming General Damages for Pain and Suffering
General damages compensate for physical pain, emotional harm, reduced quality of life, and ongoing limitation. Atlantic Canadian courts fix them by reference to similar past decisions.
Fear of the water and post-traumatic stress disorder are common after a boat crash. Both are compensable, and both need medical evidence.
Recovering Special Damages and Financial Losses
Special damages are the receipts: past and future lost wages, physiotherapy, crutches, prescriptions, and any other out-of-pocket cost the crash caused.
Keep every receipt, invoice, and pay stub. Insurers do not pay undocumented special damages.
Boat Crashes Cause Head, Spine, and Cold Water Injuries
The injuries in a boat crash are brain injuries, spinal injuries, hypothermia, and near-drowning. A boat has no seatbelts, airbags, or crumple zones, so passengers absorb the full force of a collision.
Cold water adds a second set of dangers after the impact.
Traumatic Brain Injuries and Concussions
A boat hitting a solid object throws passengers into the console or the deck. Concussions and traumatic brain injuries follow, with lasting effects on memory, cognition, and personality.
Get even a mild concussion assessed the same day. The long-term effects are not visible at the scene, and the medical record from that first visit anchors the claim.
Spinal Cord Damage and Paralysis
A high-speed powerboat crash puts enormous load on the spine. Spinal cord injuries, including partial and complete paralysis, are common in these collisions.
Wheelchair access and home modification costs run for the rest of a person’s life. The claim has to price them.
Hypothermia and Near-Drowning
Going into the water off Newfoundland or Nova Scotia brings hypothermia fast. Cold shock can cause unconsciousness within minutes. Near-drowning cuts off the brain’s oxygen supply.
Recovery often means an extended intensive care stay. These injuries are specific to marine cases and need to be documented as such.
Federal and Provincial Limitation Periods Both Apply on the Water
The federal Marine Liability Act and each province’s limitations statute set different deadlines, and the wrong one bars the claim. Federal maritime deadlines and provincial deadlines overlap on the water, and the right one has to be identified early.
Do not assume there is time. The date of the crash starts a clock, and which clock depends on the facts.
The Federal Maritime Limitation Period
The Marine Liability Act sets a three-year limitation period for damages from a marine collision generally, and two years for claims involving personal injury or death. The federal deadline does not bend.
Where the federal rule and a provincial rule differ, the claim has to be filed under the right one.
Limitation Periods in New Brunswick
A crash on an inland New Brunswick lake may engage provincial law alongside the federal Act. The New Brunswick Limitation of Actions Act gives two years from the day the injury was discovered.
Whether the provincial two-year rule or the federal three-year rule governs depends on the facts of the crash. For more, read the New Brunswick boat accident lawyer page.
Limitation Periods in Nova Scotia and PEI
Nova Scotia’s general limitation period for personal injury is two years. Halifax harbour and the Northumberland Strait raise jurisdiction questions of their own. If you have lost a family member on the water, review the Nova Scotia fatal accident lawyer page.
Prince Edward Island also uses a two-year deadline for injury claims. General injury claims are covered on the PEI car accident lawyer page.
Limitation Periods in Newfoundland and Labrador
The provincial Limitations Act gives two years for a negligence claim. Ocean collisions off Newfoundland almost always engage federal maritime law instead.
Our St. John’s office handles these claims. If your injury happened on a dock instead of on the water, see the Newfoundland trip and fall accidents page.
Mike Murphy Law Group Investigates and Litigates Marine Claims on Contingency
Mike Murphy Law Group investigates the collision, litigates against the insurer, and charges no fee unless the claim succeeds. Boat litigation involves transport regulation, nautical evidence, and layered insurance, and it is not the same work as a car claim.
Mike Murphy Law Group litigates injury claims across Atlantic Canada, and marine claims are part of that work.
Investigating the Collision
The firm obtains the police record, the Coast Guard report, and any Transport Canada findings, and takes witness statements before memories fade.
Where the cause is disputed, the firm retains reconstruction professionals to establish what the other boater did. The Halifax office handles marine claims from Nova Scotia.
Our No Win, No Fee Commitment
Mike Murphy Law Group takes injury claims on contingency. No upfront cost, no hourly rate.
The fee is paid out of the recovery. If there is no recovery, there is no legal fee. The lawyers at Mike Murphy Law Group are listed on the team page.
FAQ
How Does the Marine Liability Act and Insurance Coverage on a Boat Affect My Settlement?
The Act caps what a vessel owner must pay, and the cap is set by the tonnage and type of the at-fault vessel. The cap has to be known before the value of any settlement can be assessed.
Do I Have to Report a Minor Boating Accident in Atlantic Canada?
Yes, if it caused injury, death, or significant property damage. Not reporting can bring fines, and adjusters rely on the police or Coast Guard report when assessing the claim.
What Happens If the Boater Who Hit Me Does Not Have Insurance?
Your own marine or homeowner’s policy may include uninsured watercraft coverage. The firm reviews your policy to find it.
Can I Sue If I Was Injured as a Passenger on My Friend’s Boat?
Yes. An operator owes a duty of care to every passenger. If your friend was negligent and caused the crash, you have a claim, and their marine policy is usually what pays it.
The limitation periods in marine claims are short and the federal one does not extend. Contact Mike Murphy Law Group soon after a watercraft collision.