Boating Accident

Published on: May 7, 2014

Tragic fatal boating incident in Key Biscayne

On sunday evening, Ernesto Hernandez, 23, was pronounced dead at Ryder Trauma Center in Miami where he was airlifted following an incident off Nixon beach in Key Biscayne, Florida.

Ernesto was with his family and friends on a sunday afternoon when a nearby motorboat became stuck on a sand bar. Several people jumped out of the boat, including Ernesto, to assist the operator of the boat to free up the vessel from the sand bar. That is when one of the four propeller engines of the boat caught Ernesto and inflicted fatal injuries to his body. Jorge Pino, an investigator for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission relayed to the media that the “young man who came to assist ended up in the rear of the vessel and one of the engines and the propeller actually caught his body, his torso.” Despite the rescue efforts, first of his friends and family, followed by fire rescue, Ernesto succumbed from the injuries he sustained while helping the vessel.

The boat in question is a 40-foot pleasure boat operated at the time by DJ Laz, a popular South Florida radio voice. The vessel was being used as Pitbull’s vodka brand Voli Spirits’ promotional boat.

Published on: July 23, 2012

Latest fatality in boating accident amidst new report Florida leads nation in boating accident-related deaths

By Leesfield & Partners

A week ago, 15-year-old Deviny Boese, was killed in a boating accident off Redington beach in the Tampa area. She had joined a few friends on a 23-foot twin engine fishing boat. Another 15-year-old, Brandon Noah, was operating the boat when tragedy occurred.

Deviny Boese.gif Deviny and her friend Sarah Dobbs were sitting and holding on to a tube, when all of a sudden the boat came much too close to a dock. Noah attempted to maneuver away, but the tube was going too fast and the dock was too close. The tube flipped over, catapulting the two female teenagers into the bank. Sarah only sustained an ankle injury, but Deviny’s body slammed into a dock piling. According to the initial statements and an early investigation, Noah jumped off the boat and attempted to revive Deviny. Paramedics rushed to the scene, but the young girl died minutes later.

This tragedy is the latest fatal boating accident. These events come on the heel of a new report published this week by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. In its 2011 Boating Accident Statistical Report, the FWC found that Florida leads the nation with 742 boating accidents. The number of reportable accidents (accidents resulting in death, significant injury, or disappearance) have increased by 11% since last year, and by 20% since 2009.

In the State of Florida, the top 10 counties with the most reportable boating accidents are:

The primary caused for Florida’s nation-leading 742 boating accidents in 2011 was careless behavior by the boat operator. in all, almost 70% of all boating accidents were caused by an operator or a passenger behaving in an illegal, careless, reckless manner.
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Published on: May 8, 2012

Wrongful death caused by the negligence of a boat operator

By Leesfield & Partners

A boat operator has the duty to operate his or her vessel in a reasonable and safe manner and the duty to the public to exercise reasonable care in the use, operation, and control of the vessel.

The “reasonable care” standard is not singular to the State of Florida, and it generally applies, in one form or another, in all of the other states throughout the country. It will be a central issue in the civil case that will soon begin in Pennsylvania after these events took place on July 7, 2010 in the Delaware River:

Leesfield & Partners has a long standing history in representing families of victims who lost their life or were catastrophically injured by the negligence of a boat operator. Recently, Ira Leesfield and Thomas Scolaro resolved a tragic case where a young child who was snorkeling with his family was killed when he was hit and ran over by a high horsepower motorboat operated by a teenager.

Despite the duty of reasonable care, the teenager was reckless in his operation of the boat and was the sole reason for causing this horrific incident. In the ensuing claim, the complaint alleged multiple violations of the law by the operator of the boat, including the following violations:

– Failure to operate the subject motorboat at a safe and reasonable speed;
– Failure to keep a safe and proper lookout while operating the subject motorboat;
– Recklessly operating the subject motorboat at an excess speed under the conditions;
– Failure to use caution in the operation of the subject motorboat when approaching snorkelers with a divers down flag;
– Failure to use caution in the operation of the subject motorboat when approaching snorkelers, divers, swimmers and other boaters;

Leesfield & Partners is one of the leading personal injury firms to handle boating and maritime accidents. Established over 35 years ago as a Key West and South Florida trial lawyers, this firm has tried many cases in Key West. Leesfield & Partners has obtained the largest verdict in Monroe County’s history.
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