Jet Ski & Personal Watercraft Accident Attorney for South Florida & the Keys

By Dominic L. Scheer, Esq., Florida Bar No. 1022250 · Reviewed by Dominic L. Scheer, Esq. · Last updated October 8, 2026

Why a jet ski case is not just a boat case

Florida treats a jet ski, WaveRunner, or Sea-Doo as a vessel, so everything that applies to a boating accident applies here: the reporting duties, the navigation rules, and the possibility that federal maritime law governs the claim. But the Legislature also wrote a separate section just for personal watercraft, section 327.39, Florida Statutes, and that section is usually where a jet ski case is won. It tells us exactly what the operator and the rental company were required to do, and it does the defense's own work of defining what counts as reckless.

The firm handles these cases alongside its boat accident and maritime practice, which matters because the question of whether admiralty law applies, and what that does to the deadlines and the damages, comes up early in nearly every one of them.

What Florida requires of every jet ski operator

Section 327.39 is short and specific. An operator may not run a personal watercraft unless every person aboard, and anyone being towed behind it, is wearing an approved life jacket, and inflatable jackets do not count. If the machine has an engine cutoff lanyard, the operator must attach it to their body, clothing, or life jacket. Personal watercraft may not be operated from a half hour after sunset until a half hour before sunrise. Nobody under 14 may operate one in Florida waters, and an owner may not let someone under 14 operate theirs.

The same section spells out the maneuvers the Legislature considers reckless: weaving through congested traffic, jumping the wake of another vessel unreasonably close to it or when visibility around it is obstructed, and swerving at the last possible moment to avoid a collision. Each of those is reckless operation under section 327.33, which is a criminal offense and, in a civil case, strong evidence of negligence.

Operators born on or after January 1, 1988 also need a boating safety education identification card or a temporary certificate to operate any vessel with a motor of 10 horsepower or more, under section 327.395. A rental operator with no card and no instruction is a fact we look for on day one.

What the rental company had to do

Most jet ski injuries in South Florida involve a rental, and Florida regulates rental operations, called liveries, in detail under section 327.54, Florida Statutes. A livery needs a permit from the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Before each rental it must give pre-ride instruction covering the operating characteristics of the machine, safe operation and right-of-way rules, local hazards and boating-restricted areas, and emergency procedures, and the instructor must sign a written statement that the instruction was given. The livery has to keep that statement for at least 90 days and keep a signed rental agreement for at least a year. It may not rent a motorized vessel to anyone under 18, and it may not rent to a person who needs a boating safety card and does not have one.

Liveries must also carry liability insurance of at least $500,000 per person and $1,000,000 per event, and either cover their renters at the same limits or offer that coverage and get a signed acknowledgment from any renter who declines it. Those insurance requirements are why a jet ski case against a rental operation is often a real recovery rather than a judgment against an individual with no assets.

When a livery skips the instruction, puts a 16-year-old on a machine, or sends two renters out on one craft with a single life jacket between them, the statute turns that shortcut into evidence. We request the permit, the instruction statements, the rental agreements, and the insurance information in the first letter we send.

About the waiver you signed

Every rental comes with a waiver, and every rental company's first response to a claim is to point at it. A waiver is not the end of the conversation. Florida courts read exculpatory clauses narrowly and enforce them only where the language clearly and unambiguously covers what happened, and no waiver changes the duties the statute imposes on the livery. Bring the paperwork. We will tell you what it actually covers.

What to do after a jet ski accident

• Get medical care the same day, even if you think you are only bruised. Water impacts cause injuries that show up later, and the gap between the accident and the first visit is the first thing an insurer looks at.
• Make sure it is reported. Under section 327.30, the operator must notify FWC, the sheriff, or local police of any accident involving an injury that needs more than first aid, a death or disappearance, or at least $2,000 in apparent property damage. The report and the FWC investigation usually become the backbone of the civil case.
• Photograph everything: the machines, the damage, the life jackets, the launch site, the signage, and your injuries.
• Keep the rental paperwork, the receipt, and the names of the people who gave you instruction, if anyone did.
• Get names and numbers of other riders and witnesses before they leave the beach.
• Do not give a recorded statement to the rental company's insurer before you have talked to a lawyer.

Who can be responsible

The operator of the other craft, if there was one. The owner of the machine, who may be a different person. The livery that rented it, trained the rider, or failed to. A charter or tour operator that organized the outing. In rare cases a manufacturer, when a throttle, steering, or cutoff system failed. Florida's comparative fault rule under section 768.81 reduces a recovery by the injured person's own share of fault and bars it entirely above 50 percent, so the defense will argue you were going too fast or should have seen the other craft. The record we build answers that.

Deadlines

A negligence claim in Florida must be filed within two years under section 95.11(5)(a), Florida Statutes. If the accident happened on navigable waters, federal maritime law may apply instead, with its own limitation rules. Either way, the evidence that matters most, the instruction records, the rental agreements, and the FWC report, is easiest to get in the first weeks. Call before the rental company's 90-day record retention period runs out.

How we handle these cases

• Contingency fee. The attorney's fee comes out of the recovery, only if there is one, with costs explained in writing before you sign. The consultation is free.
• Maritime fluency. We know when admiralty law applies to a jet ski collision and what that does to the case, because we practice it.
• Local waters. Biscayne Bay, Haulover, the Intracoastal in Fort Lauderdale and Hollywood, Lake Boca, and the Keys from Key Largo to Key West.
• English and Spanish, start to finish, with Dominic directly.

Hurt on a jet ski? Start with a short conversation. Read our guide to boating injury claims in South Florida and the Keys, or check the terms on our legal glossary.

Frequently Asked Questions

I was hurt on a rented jet ski. Do I have a case?

Possibly. Florida law requires rental operations to give pre-ride instruction, keep signed records of it, refuse rentals to anyone under 18 or without a required boating safety card, and carry at least $500,000 per person in liability insurance under section 327.54, Florida Statutes. When a livery cuts a corner and someone is hurt, that is the case. Bring the paperwork and we will give you a straight answer.

I signed a waiver. Does that end it?

No. A waiver is enforced only to the extent its language clearly covers what happened, and it does not change the duties Florida law places on the rental company. We read the waiver before we tell you what it means.

Who is responsible if someone else was driving the jet ski I was riding on?

The operator, and sometimes the owner or the rental company that put that operator on the water. A passenger thrown from a jet ski by a reckless maneuver, such as a sharp last-second swerve or jumping another boat's wake too closely, has a claim against the person who did it, and the maneuvers themselves are defined as reckless operation under section 327.39(4), Florida Statutes.

Does the accident have to be reported?

Under section 327.30, Florida Statutes, the operator must notify FWC, the sheriff, or local police without delay when an accident involves an injury that needs treatment beyond immediate first aid, a death or disappearance, or at least $2,000 in apparent property damage. Leaving the scene of an injury accident is a felony.

How long do I have to file?

Two years for a Florida negligence claim under section 95.11(5)(a), Florida Statutes. If maritime law governs, the rules can differ. Have the deadline confirmed for your facts early rather than assuming.

What does it cost to hire you?

Jet ski injury cases are handled on a contingency fee: no attorney's fee unless we recover. Costs and expenses are explained in writing before you sign, and the consultation is free.