A Lake Ellsinore man has been sentenced to two years for a boat accident involving an 11-year-old boy with brain injuries.

Roger Guzman was at the helm of the speedboat when it struck an 11-year-old driven by his father. Dallen suffered head injuries when the boat’s propeller struck his head after the accident. Guzman’s boat also had a passenger 35-year-old Thomas Christopher Kirby. Guzman failed to stop the boat and sped right on. Both Guzman and Kirby were arrested a few days later.

Dallen suffered serious injuries when the propeller struck his head. The vision in one of his eyes was impacted in the boat accident. He has also suffered problems with his memory, and finds it difficult to concentrate for long periods of time. Homework takes much longer to do than before. According to doctors, they will only know the extent of the damage after about ten years. However, the only thing that Dallen would like is for his school friends to treat him as normally as they did before. The community had been a great support in the days after the boat accident.

It was later found that Guzman was driving the boat under the influence of alcohol. He had also been speeding at the time. Guzman’s attorneys, Roger Nuttall and Scott Baly, tried to argue that the only reason why he left the scene of the impact was because he didn’t know that he had struck anyone. It was an emotional day in court as Guzman came face to face with Dallen’s parents.

Intoxicated driving is just as reckless behavior at the helm of a boat as it is behind the wheel of a car. Impact on water can have consequences that are just as dangerous as impact in a road accident. Alcohol can impair a person’s judgment and slow down his responses. A person driving under the influence of alcohol can also have his senses impaired. His sense of vision may not be as sharp and this may impact their ability to make out a person in their surroundings. Alcohol also tends to make a person reckless, and take bigger risks than he or she would have if they were not under the influence of alcohol.

Judging from the fact that Guzman was not only drunk, but was also speeding at the time of the accident, it is not surprising that Dallen’s injuries were as severe as they were. This young boy continues to be scarred by the impact of the injuries that he sustained that day. For his family, the days since the accident have been agonizing and painful. As the person responsible for Dallen’s injuries, Guzman can be held liable for the expenses that the McEntire family has had to undergo. Persons who have been injured because of another person’s negligence may be able to claim damages for medical bills, including hospitalization expenses etc. Victims may also be able to claim damages for pain, anguish and suffering.

The Reeves Law Group is a law firm with offices throughout California dedicated exclusively to the representation of personal injury victims, including victims of boat accidents. Please visit our website at trlglaw.com. If you desire a free consultation on a personal injury matter, please call us at (800) 644-8000 or email us.

The Reeves Law Group is not acting as legal counsel for any party in the matters discussed in this posting.

Being on the water is part of the California experience. With the golden state’s miles of beautiful coastline, California has some of the most perfect conditions for sailing, luring thousands of sea worshippers out on the blue every year. Unfortunately, more of those sea enthusiasts are dying in the water then in years past, according to the California Department of Boating and Waterways.

The total number of fatalities in boating accidents in the state was 55 in 2007. That was a 30 percent increase from 42 the previous year. This makes California the leading state in the country where boating accidents are concerned with a total of 804 boating accidents, and the second leading state in the country in boating accident fatalities.

The most frequent cause for boat accidents in California, according to the Department, was operator inattention. Inexperience of the operator and excessive speed were the other two factors that were most closely linked to boating accidents in California. What’s worse, the Department says that most of the fatalities that occur are completely avoidable. For instance, of the 71 percent fatalities who drowned, at least 87 percent were not wearing a life jacket. Basic safety precautions like wearing a life jacket and following proper and safe boating practices can go a long way in reducing the number of boat accidents.

The US Coast Guard recommends a boating safety class for all boating enthusiasts, and it’s becoming clear that these should be made more then recommendations. There seems to be an unnecessary amount of risk being displayed on the water. In the past few weeks, we have reported on two separate fatal boat accidents. Both were caused by young pilots who had either very little experience on the water, or were over confident of their surroundings.

The water can be a great playmate but it can also be a deadly environment if you forget that you are in hostile surroundings. Risks connected to steering while drunk, or speeding while driving are magnified when they occur on the water. Alcohol has been found to be a factor in some boat accidents that have occurred in recent weeks in our state. It’s clear that alcohol impairs faculties and judgment when we imbibe a few drinks and drive off. It’s the exact same logic when you’re talking of sailing. Alcohol and sailing simply don’t mix, and the two can create a deadly combination of factors for a boat accident.

Excessive speed is another cause of boat accidents, and more awareness needs to be done regarding the dangers of speeding on the water. Over the weekend, a head-on collision between two boats in New Orleans killed a total of four people. All the men killed were in their early twenties, and the impact of the accident was devastating.

Its easy to think when you’re on the water that you’re invincible, and that the water will cushion you against any falls or injuries, but that’s hardly the case, as more and more Californians are finding out every year.

The Reeves Law Group is a law firm with offices throughout California dedicated exclusively to the representation of personal injury victims, including victims of boat accidents. Please visit our website at trlglaw.com. If you desire a free consultation on a personal injury matter, please call us at (800) 644-8000 or email us.

A summer vacation on the Colorado River tuned into a tragic boat accident for two families from Murrieta. On the 5th of July, 19-year-old Desiree Hobill and her friend 16-year-old Tiffany Breslin were killed when the watercraft that they were driving on the river was struck by a boat.

Desiree’s family lives in Murrieta, and the family once lived in Torrance where she went to school. On the day of the boat accident, the two teenagers were riding a Sea Doo personal watercraft. Their family members were a little ahead of them on the river. Suddenly, the watercraft collided with a boat operated by Daniel Ashcraft of Tustin. The watercraft was smashed beyond recognition and the girls suffered catastrophic injuries. They were rushed to the Colorado River Medical Center where Hobill was pronounced dead. Breslin, a Murrieta resident, was airlifted to a hospital in Las Vegas where she died a day later.

The boat operator insists that the watercraft came right at him. He says he tried to avoid the watercraft, but could not prevent the boat accident. He also claims that the two girls were looking elsewhere at the time of collision, and were not focusing ahead. Desiree’s family denies this part of his story vehemently. According to them, the girls in fact, had stopped the watercraft to switch positions so Tiffany could take over the watercraft. At this point, the boat slammed against the craft.

Desiree’s family is adamant that their daughter could never have driven recklessly. She was infuriated by people who didn’t follow the rules of the water, and could not, they believe, have been able to be careless as she steered the craft.

In a tragedy like this, when lives are snuffed out, it’s hard to turn away from the human suffering behind the boat accident. Desiree was a fine student who planned to attend a four year college, and major in aeronautical engineering. She was a softball enthusiast, and was a member of the Murrieta Valley Girls Softball league. This was a girl who was full of sunshine and full of promise. Same goes for 16-year-old Tiffany too. It’s doubly sad when two young and promising lives are lost so unnecessarily.

Whether the boat accident was preventable or not, and where the blame lies, only time will tell. The police are still conducting investigations into the cause of the accident, and have ruled out that alcohol was not a factor in the case. There will have to be serious investigations if the cause is to be determined, especially considering that both parties have widely differing accounts of the scene of the boat accident.

The Reeves Law Group is a law firm with offices throughout California dedicated exclusively to the representation of personal injury victims, including victims of boat accidents. Please visit our website at trlglaw.com. If you desire a free consultation on a personal injury matter, please call us at (800) 644-8000 or email us.

New York City is bracing itself for tens of millions of dollars worth of lawsuits, as a court holds that the city was negligent in the case of the ferry crash that killed 11 people in 2003.

The city had tried to limit its liability in the accident to around $14 million, but that hope has been dashed by the ruling of the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals.

The ferry crash occurred in October 2003 in New York Harbor. Pilot Richard Smith was the only pilot at the helm of the ferry that had about 1500 passengers on board. He was on medication for blood pressure and had consumed painkillers. Before long, Smith blacked out at the controls. The ferry lost control and smashed into a pier. Eleven people were killed and many more injured.

In the days following the horrific crash, the city tried to play down its part in the accident. Smith was the lone pilot at the controls and regulations require there be two pilots at the helm. The city argued that it was normal practice in the ferry industry to allow a single pilot to work on his own. In this case, the former director of the NYC Ferry, Patrick Ryan, admitted his part in the accident, and admitted that he failed to enforce the regulation mandating two pilots. He was sentenced to a year and one day in jail. The pilot, Richard Smith, was jailed for 18 months for manslaughter. His role in the disaster was found to be smaller in comparison to that of upper management.

The ruling should come as good news for the many injured in the crash, many of whom suffered amputations. When the ferry crashed into the pier, it smashed though the ship cutting, injuring many of the passengers. A total of 189 personal injury lawsuits have been filed, and of these the city has settled all but 59 of the suits.

As the court said in this ruling, it would have been a small burden on the city to ensure that the regulations mandating two pilots at the wheel were enforced. At the very least, the city should have had another person on hand to render emergency assistance in case the pilot became incapacitated at the wheel. Blaming Richard Smith for being at the wheel on medication is right, but greater responsibility lies with the authorities that allowed him to be alone on that ferry in the first place.

Saying something has been done many times before – in this case – a single pilot being allowed to steer the ferry – and is therefore harmless is a ridiculous argument. Regulations exist for a reason, and as the court, said it was the responsibility of the city to protect ferry passengers.

How difficult could it have been to make some effort to enforce its own legislation? Negligence by the city is plain to see in this incident.

When the Crown Princess, a luxury cruise operated by Miami based Carnival Corp. began to list just a few hours after it left Port Canaveral on July 18, 2006 passengers might have been forgiven for believing they were living out the Titanic nightmare. The 113,000-ton ship reportedly tilted 16 to 18 feet for no apparent reason, causing severe injuries as objects began tumbling off shelves and people began to be thrown about. In the terrifying bedlam that followed, at least two passengers on board suffered critical injuries. When the tilt was finally corrected and the liner reached dry land, more than 90 passengers had to be taken to hospital.

At the time of the incident, the ship was nearing the end of its nine-day luxury Caribbean cruise. There was no evidence to suggest that choppy waves or bad weather had caused the tilt.

Now, new interviews with two of the ship’s crew members suggest that the tilt might have occurred due to human error. Interviews that the National Transportation Safety Board conducted with Dr. Andrew Proctor and Second Officer Adam Stratford indicate that it was Stratford who took the ship off autopilot, which caused the liner to tilt at an alarming angle.

The interviews are part of a collection of 200 documents and transcripts collected by the National Transportation Safety Board in its attempts to investigate the case. At the time of the incident, Princess Cruise officials did not name persons responsible for the accident, saying only that human error was responsible.

This isn’t the first time that Princess cruises has had such accidents. The last time was in 2006 on another ship operated by the company. That ship had to turn around because one of the passengers felt seriously sick. The resulting emergency turnaround that followed led to at least 37 people being injured, including crew members.

As dangerous as injuries sustained at sea are they pale in comparison to the kind of terror and trauma that passengers must have undoubtedly felt as the ship began to tilt. Cruise lines have become popular for stuffing just about every entertainment and dining avenue available on dry land into their liners. One wishes they would pay as much attention to the kind of personnel they put in charge of the controls as they do they in their choice of showman bar tenders and salsa dancers.

If you have been injured or a loved one has been killed as the result of pilot error in a boating accident, contact the California boating accident attorneys at The Reeves Law Group for a free consultation.