Pre-injury releases do not always provide the defense that negligent parasailing operators rely on. Courts consider pre-injury releases to be against public policy in cases where an operator ignores laws that are meant to prevent accidents.
News outlets are reporting that Daniel Pena, a 33-year-old-man from the Lantana area, was knocked off his boat after making contact with a large wake cast from a passing boat in the Intracoastal Waterway. After entering the water, Pena’s boat ran him over and the propeller of the outboard engine struck his head. The incident caused Pena to lose all his teeth and part of his tongue. He remains in intensive care at Delray Medical Center and his doctors opine that his injuries will require at least 20 rounds of reconstructive surgeries to his skull, mouth, nose and cheeks. He will be transferred to Jackson Memorial Hospital to undergo the additional surgeries.
It is being widely reported that a crewmember suffered serious personal injury after he fell into the water while attempting to step from the aft of a crew boat to a dock, barge or other vessel engaged in dredging operations in Port Canaveral. Authorities are presently withholding the man’s name. The dredging crew is deepening and widening the entrance to the port so that larger ships can come in.
In a move that is both unfortunate but expected, TOTE Maritime and Sea Star Lines obtained an order from a Federal Judge requiring the families of the 33 crew members who died while serving aboard the El Faro to file their wrongful death claims by December 21, 2015. This means that the families through a personal representative of the crew members’ estates must file their claims in the Federal Middle District of Florida by the December 21, 2015 deadline or risk losing the right to sue TOTE Maritime and Sea Star Lines for the deaths of their loved ones.
