What to Do After a Boat Accident Near Mount Pleasant
Getting the injured person to care comes first. If you're headed to the hospital, someone else from the boat or a family member can work through the rest.
- Get help. Call 911 or radio for help. Describe where you are: Shem Creek, the Wando, the harbor or the waterway near a bridge. At the ER, explain exactly how you were hurt, and keep every follow-up and therapy visit after that.
- Get the other operator's details. Someone should write down the operator's name and address and photograph the registration numbers on the hull.
- Confirm DNR hears about it. State law makes some boating accidents reportable to the Department of Natural Resources, serious injuries among them. The duty to report usually sits with whoever was driving the boat.5 The statute allows 48 hours for some reports but requires immediate notice for the most serious ones.4 Ask the agency that investigated how to get its records.
- Mark the place. Drop a pin, or note the closest marker, dock, bridge or creek mouth.
- Photograph it. Your injuries first, then the boats, any paddleboard or kayak, the water and the sky.
- Collect witnesses. Anyone on the docks, other boats or a sandbar may have seen it.
- Hang on to the equipment. A torn life vest, a snapped tow rope, a paddleboard leash or a cracked tube can all matter later.
- Hold off on signing. An owner, a rental outfit or an insurer may hand you papers. Many people talk to a lawyer first.
Which Deadline Applies
When federal maritime law governs, an injury suit generally has to be filed within three years.1 Not every accident on the water falls under maritime law, and some are governed by South Carolina law, depending on where and how they happened.2
Where South Carolina law applies, most injury claims must be filed within three years.6 That is a deadline to file suit, and an insurance claim does not pause it.7 If a state or local agency is responsible for one of the operators, a separate deadline applies, and it can be shorter.8
For more detail, see South Carolina boat accident claims.
If You Get a Federal Court Notice
A boat's owner can ask a federal court to limit what the owner owes for an accident.9 The court may then set its own claim deadline, which can be much shorter than usual. Treat that kind of notice as urgent and get it to a lawyer the same week, since a missed court date can jeopardize recovery.3
Want someone to look at your situation?
Talk with our team about what happened and ask the questions on your mind.
Tickets, Charters and Rentals
A ticket or rental agreement may include notice rules or a shorter time to sue. For some covered passenger vessels, federal law sets minimum periods that a ticket can't cut short.10 A rented jet ski or a small fishing charter may not get that protection, so hold on to whatever you signed.
If the injury changed your life, read about catastrophic injury claims.
Talk With Us
A lot of boating injuries happen on a day that started out with friends or family, and that can make a claim feel awkward. We start by listening to what happened on the water. If you hire us, the insurers can usually deal with us, and we tell you honestly what your options are.
We take cases across South Carolina, including Mount Pleasant and the islands. Our office is on King Street in downtown Charleston, and the first conversation can happen by phone.
Bring any papers or court notices that have come since.
South Carolina Law on This
- Injury and death claims arising from a maritime accident generally must be filed within three years under federal law.1
- Not every boating accident falls under federal maritime law. Federal admiralty jurisdiction generally requires both a qualifying location on navigable waters and a sufficient connection to traditional maritime activity, and navigability is a legal determination, not simply whether the water can carry boats. Some accidents, particularly on certain inland lakes or waterways, may be governed by South Carolina law instead.2
- A boat owner may file a federal court proceeding under the Limitation of Liability Act seeking to limit liability for an accident. If that happens, the court may set a separate deadline for injured people to file their claims, which can be much shorter than the ordinary three-year maritime deadline, and other litigation may be restricted. Missing the court's deadline can jeopardize recovery.3
- South Carolina law requires certain boating accidents to be reported to the Department of Natural Resources. The statute provides for a report within 48 hours, and immediate notification for accidents involving death, loss of consciousness or serious bodily injury.4
- After a boating accident in South Carolina, an operator generally must help anyone injured if it can be done safely, give their name, address and boat identification in writing, and report certain accidents to the Department of Natural Resources.5
- Most personal injury claims in South Carolina must be filed within three years.6
- South Carolina's statute of limitations generally sets the deadline for filing a lawsuit in court. Simply opening a claim with an insurance company or negotiating with an insurance adjuster does not stop the statute of limitations from running.7
- Claims against a South Carolina state or local government agency have their own filing deadline, which can be shorter, and there could be caps on damages under the South Carolina Tort Claims Act, depending on the facts of the case.8
- A boat's owner can ask a federal court to limit liability to the value of the boat after the accident. Once that case is filed, other lawsuits are generally stopped, and claims must be filed in the federal case by a court-set deadline.9
- Tickets for some passenger and charter boats may shorten the time to give notice of an injury claim or to file suit. For covered vessels, federal law sets minimum periods that a ticket cannot shorten.10
Frequently Asked Questions
My friend was running the boat when it hit a piling in the creek. Can I bring a claim?
You may, if your friend's carelessness caused the crash, even though you were out for fun together. Coverage turns on whose boat it was and what policies sit behind it. Talking it over with a lawyer first lets you weigh that before anything is said to anyone.
The boat that hit us on the Wando kept going. What should we do?
Tell whoever responds, whether DNR or another agency, how the boat looked: hull color, length, engine and any lettering. People on docks or other boats around you may have seen it, so get their names and numbers.
The other operator was charged with BUI. Does that take care of my claim?
No. A BUI charge runs on its own track, apart from any injury claim, and a lawyer can lay out how the two interact. Talking with an insurer does not stop a South Carolina filing deadline.7
We were in a small creek behind the neighborhood, not out on the waterway. Does that matter?
It can. Federal maritime law doesn't cover every boating accident, and whether it applies depends on the location and the activity.2 Mark the spot on a map while you still remember it.
Sources
- 46 U.S.C. § 30106
- 28 U.S.C. § 1333; Foremost Ins. Co. v. Richardson, 457 U.S. 668 (1982); Sisson v. Ruby, 497 U.S. 358 (1990)
- 46 U.S.C. §§ 30501 et seq.; Supplemental Admiralty Rule F
- S.C. Code § 50-21-130
- S.C. Code § 50-21-130 (as amended by 2008 Act No. 321)
- S.C. Code § 15-3-530
- S.C. Code §§ 15-3-20 and 15-3-530
- S.C. Code §§ 15-78-110 and 15-78-120
- 46 U.S.C. §§ 30523 and 30529 (formerly §§ 30505 and 30511; renumbered by Pub. L. 117-263 in 2022); Supplemental Admiralty Rule F
- 46 U.S.C. § 30526
This page is general information about South Carolina law, not legal advice for your situation. Every case depends on its own facts.
