Boating Accident Lawyer Baytown, TX
If you’ve been hurt in a boating accident on Galveston Bay, the Houston Ship Channel, Trinity Bay, the San Jacinto River, or another waterway in or around Baytown, the legal framework governing your claim is not the same as for a car or truck wreck. Boating cases may be decided under Texas personal injury law, federal admiralty and maritime law, or both, depending on where the incident occurred, the type of vessel, and whether commercial activity was involved. Alcohol, operator inexperience, weather, and defective equipment are recurring factors, and critical evidence such as vessel GPS and engine data, witness statements, and Coast Guard reports must be preserved quickly. The vessel operator’s insurer and defense counsel already know those rules.
At Greenberg Streich Injury Lawyers, we’ve handled serious boating, maritime, and offshore injury cases across Texas and Gulf-state waters for more than a decade, including an $11 million mid-trial settlement for a worker killed when a crane outrigger fell on him at the Port of Freeport and a $3.53 million Jones Act towboat capsize settlement. We represent injured passengers, operators, swimmers, and their families, not vessel owners, marine insurers, or their carriers. Every case is on contingency. No retainer, no hourly billing, no fee unless we recover.
If you need a Baytown, TX boating accident lawyer whom injured people and families can trust with a serious case, we are ready to listen and move quickly.
Why Choose Greenberg Streich Injury Lawyers for Boating Accidents in Baytown, TX?
Trial Experience in Serious Boating and Maritime Cases
Co-founder Matt Greenberg has practiced personal injury law in Baytown, TX for 12 years and has served as lead trial counsel in cases that produced record-setting verdicts and settlements in catastrophic injury matters across Texas. He earned his J.D. at Baylor Law School and has been recognized by Super Lawyers, Lawdragon, and the National Trial Lawyers.
Mike Streich has handled serious boating, maritime, and offshore cases for 13 years. He graduated cum laude from the Houston Law Center and is a member of the Texas Trial Lawyers Association. Before moving to the plaintiff side, Mike spent close to a decade defending corporations and insurance syndicates, including members of Lloyd’s of London, in maritime and catastrophic injury claims. That background often dictates how he investigates, values, and tries boating cases against vessel owners, operators, and their carriers today.
Results That Matter to Boating Accident Victims
Our attorneys have recovered over $375 million for clients across Texas. Alongside the boating and maritime outcomes noted above, our broader case results include a $20 million oilfield burn settlement and multiple seven-figure recoveries in matters where vessel operations, rigging, and dockside activity contributed to catastrophic injury.
Contingency Fee Representation
Injured boaters, passengers, and their families should not have to pay retainer checks while managing surgery and rehabilitation. Our firm advances investigation costs, accident reconstruction, vessel and equipment analysis, Coast Guard and NTSB marine investigations record retrieval, and, where appropriate, toxicology and weather analysis. Our attorney fees come out of the recovery only if we win.
Client Feedback
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ “I was referred to Matt Greenberg by a friend who told me he was the best, and I now understand why. From start to finish, Matt and his team were professional, responsive, and clearly deeply experienced. They handled everything for me and kept me informed at every step. I am grateful beyond words.”
Brandon Hattaway
Read more reviews on our Google Business Profile.
Types of Boating Accident Cases We Handle in Baytown
Baytown sits between Galveston Bay, Trinity Bay, and the Houston Ship Channel, and recreational and commercial vessel traffic in those waters is heavy year-round. Our firm handles the most serious categories of boating events.
- Recreational powerboat and ski boat crashes. Collisions between recreational vessels, strikes of swimmers and tubers, and wake-related injuries frequently produce severe orthopedic, head, and spinal injuries.
- Personal watercraft (jet ski) crashes. Jet ski collisions with other vessels, fixed structures, and swimmers are a recurring source of serious injury on Galveston Bay and area lakes.
- Alcohol-related boating crashes. Boating while intoxicated (BWI) is among the most common contributing factors in fatal recreational boating events in Texas.
- Commercial vessel and barge incidents. Collisions with, or wakes from, commercial vessels, tugs, and barges on the Ship Channel often produce catastrophic injury to smaller craft and their occupants, and may involve parallel maritime injury or Jones Act offshore injury litigation.
- Tugboat, towboat, and pilot boat incidents. Crew members aboard tugs and towboats hurt in the course of operations may have Jones Act claims in addition to general maritime remedies.
- Charter, tour, and fishing boat incidents. Passengers hurt on paid charter, tour, and fishing vessels frequently have claims against the charter operator and the vessel owner under general maritime law.
- Marina, dock, and launch ramp injuries. Slip and falls on docks, line-handling injuries, and strikes by moving vessels at marinas and launch ramps may also qualify for premises liability claims, in addition to the alongside maritime injury suit.
- Drowning and near-drowning cases. Inadequate life jackets, absent man-overboard procedures, and operator failures to recover a person in the water produce catastrophic drowning and near-drowning outcomes.
- Propeller strikes. Propeller strikes on swimmers, skiers, and fellow passengers cause some of the most severe injuries in recreational boating.
- Fires, fuel flashes, and explosions. Onboard fires and fuel system failures produce catastrophic burn injuries, and in industrial settings, may overlap with refinery accident and explosion accident analysis.
- Trailer and transport incidents. Trailered boats involved in car accidents and 18-wheeler crashes while being transported can produce cases straddling boating and road law.
- Head injuries on the water. Strikes by booms, low bridges, and equipment commonly produce traumatic brain injury.
- Work-related vessel injuries. Commercial mariners and dockside workers hurt on the job may have parallel workplace injury claims alongside maritime remedies.
- Fatal boating incidents. When someone dies in a vessel crash, capsize, drowning, or fire, surviving spouses, children, and parents may pursue a wrongful death claim under Texas or federal maritime law.
Texas Legal Requirements for Boating Accident Claims
Boating accident claims fall under the purview of Texas personal injury law, Texas water safety statutes, and federal maritime law. The applicable mix depends on where the incident occurred and what the vessel was doing.
Statute of limitations. Claims under Texas law must generally be filed within two years under Section 16.003 of the Civil Practice and Remedies Code. Maritime personal injury and death claims are generally governed by the three-year limitations period at 46 U.S.C. § 30106. Which period applies depends on admiralty jurisdiction and the type of claim. The steps taken after a serious accident often determine whether the plaintiff is successful in securing a settlement.
Modified comparative negligence (state law claims). For Texas-law claims, CPRC Chapter 33 applies the 51 percent bar rule. If a jury finds the injured person more than 50 percent at fault, the injured person recovers nothing. Maritime-law claims apply pure comparative fault, which reduces recovery but does not bar it.
Texas Water Safety Act and boater education. Boating on Texas public waters is regulated by the Texas Water Safety Act and Texas Parks and Wildlife Department rules, including the mandatory boater education requirement for operators born on or after September 1, 1993. Violations of required operator training, equipment carriage, and BWI rules are powerful evidence of negligence in civil cases.
Coast Guard rules. Federal Navigation Rules (33 CFR Subchapter E) govern right of way, lighting, and sound signals on U.S. waters. The U.S. Coast Guard enforces boating safety requirements and is frequently the first investigating agency on scene.
Unseaworthiness and Jones Act overlays. When the injured person is a crew member on a vessel, claims may include a Jones Act negligence count under 46 U.S.C. § 30104, an unseaworthiness claim under general maritime law, and maintenance and cure.
Boating safety data. The Coast Guard recreational boating statistics and CDC injury data confirm that operator inattention, operator inexperience, improper lookout, machinery failure, and alcohol remain leading causes of recreational boating casualties nationwide.
What Damages Are Recoverable in a Baytown Boating Accident Case?
The available damages depend on whether Texas law, maritime law, or both govern the claim. Injured boaters and their families may pursue several overlapping categories.
Economic damages. These include past and future medical expenses, surgery, rehabilitation, assistive devices, home and vehicle modifications, lost wages, lost earning capacity, and, in fatal cases, funeral costs. Jones Act seamen also receive maintenance and cure. Serious boating cases often require a forensic economist and, in catastrophic matters, a life care planner and vocational analyst.
Non-economic damages. Texas law and general maritime law both allow recovery for physical pain, mental anguish, disfigurement, physical impairment, and loss of enjoyment of life. In fatal cases, surviving spouses, children, and parents may recover for loss of companionship, consortium, and household services under Texas’s wrongful death and survival statutes. In fatal cases governed by DOHSA (deaths beyond three nautical miles), recovery is limited to pecuniary losses.
Punitive damages. For Texas-law claims, CPRC Chapter 41 permits exemplary damages where gross negligence, fraud, or malice is shown by clear and convincing evidence. A BWI charge or documented vessel-safety violations are common examples of cases in which exemplary damages could be awarded. Under general maritime law, the Supreme Court has recognized that punitive damages may be available for willful and wanton disregard of the duty to provide maintenance and cure.
If the injury involves a third-party vessel, a dockside contractor, or a defective product, additional sources of coverage often apply beyond the immediate operator’s policy.
Contact Greenberg Streich Injury Lawyers
A serious boating injury can end a career, reshape a family, and upend a summer of plans in an instant. You deserve a firm that takes the case as seriously as you do. Our attorneys will listen carefully, review the evidence, and give you an honest assessment of your options, including whether a lawsuit is the right next step.
Initial case reviews at Greenberg Streich Injury Lawyers are free. You pay nothing unless we recover money for you. We respond to calls and form submissions promptly, and we can meet in person, by phone, or by video, whichever works best for you.
Contact us today to speak with our Baytown boating accident lawyer about what happened and what comes next.
