Boating Accident leads to $2,643,000 Award

$2,643,000.00 Settlement –The plaintiff was a passenger on her own boat when she suffered a closed-head injury in a collision on Lake of the Ozarks. The resulting injury required three weeks of in-hospital care and one week of rehabilitation. The accident occurred at night when the plaintiff’s boat slowed to allow the operator to reorient himself to the surroundings. The lights on the plaintiff’s boat were not turned on, and the defendant claimed that the operator of the boat was intoxicated, thereby introducing considerable complications for the plaintiff’s case. Because the defendant crashed his boat into that on which the plaintiff was traveling, the plaintiff filed a claim alleging that the defendant’s negligence was responsible for the damage. The defendant brought a claim against the operator of the plaintiff’s boat, which was resolved by a settlement of $393,125 paid to the defendant. In order to address past medical bills of $191,690.94 associated with the accident in addition to monetary losses due to the effects of the plaintiff’s head injury, the plaintiff received a settlement of $2.25 million from the defendant.