Utah Boat Accident Lawyer

Reviewed by Kara H. North, Managing Attorney at Moxie Law Group. Reviewed September 2026.

Utah Lake, Jordanelle, Deer Creek, Pineview, Bear Lake, Willard Bay, Strawberry, Flaming Gorge, and Lake Powell carry hundreds of thousands of boaters every summer, most of them on a few crowded weekends. When a wakeboat driver looks back at the rider instead of forward, a rental pontoon is handed to someone who has never driven one, or a jet ski cuts across a tow line, the injuries are the kind that change a family: propeller wounds, drownings, spinal injuries from a hard landing, traumatic brain injuries from a collision at speed. Moxie Law Group represents injured boaters, swimmers, skiers, and passengers across Utah, and we handle the insurers so you can focus on recovery. We work on contingency, so you pay nothing unless we win.

A boat accident claim is a negligence claim, and the Utah Boating Act (Utah Code Title 73, Chapter 18) supplies most of the rules a careless operator breaks.

• Boating under the influence is a DUI. Utah applies its 0.05 blood alcohol limit on the water exactly as it does on the road, and an operator who launches a boat has consented to sobriety testing. A BUI arrest is the single strongest piece of evidence in an injury claim.
• Life jackets. Every passenger 12 and younger must wear a Coast Guard-approved life jacket while the boat is underway, everyone on a personal watercraft must wear one, and everyone being towed must wear one. A boat must carry a properly sized jacket for every person aboard. An operator who ignores these rules is negligent as a matter of course.
• Reckless and negligent operation. Utah prohibits operating at a speed or in a manner that endangers others, including cutting inside a tow line, riding the wake of another boat too closely, and operating in swim areas. Wake-surfing boats must keep a legal distance from shore and other vessels.
• Accident reporting. When anyone dies, disappears, or needs medical treatment beyond first aid, or damage exceeds $2,000, the operator must file an accident report with the Utah Division of Outdoor Recreation within 10 days. That report, and the state park ranger’s investigation, is where we start.
• Deadlines. You have four years from the accident to file suit under Utah Code 78B-2-307, and two years for a wrongful death. If a state park, county sheriff’s boat, or other government vessel was involved, a notice of claim is due within one year. Accidents on Lake Powell can also raise federal admiralty law, which has its own rules on liability limits.

Unlike a car crash, there is no no-fault PIP coverage on the water. Your claim goes straight to the responsible party’s insurance, and finding it is half the work. A private owner’s boat policy or, for smaller boats, homeowners policy usually applies. If the boat was rented, the rental company’s commercial policy is in play, and so is the company itself if it handed the keys to someone it should not have or sent the boat out with a known defect. If a guide, tour operator, or marina was involved, their liability coverage and their safety practices become part of the case. Manufacturers are liable for defective boats and equipment, and a bar or restaurant that overserved the operator can be responsible under Utah’s dram shop law.

Passengers are almost never at fault, and Utah’s comparative fault rule means even an injured operator or swimmer can recover as long as they were less than 50 percent responsible. Expect the insurer to argue that you were not wearing a life jacket or were in the water in the wrong place; those are arguments about the size of the recovery, not whether you have one.

Utah has one of the highest boating accident rates per registered boat in the country, and the pattern is consistent: most serious accidents happen on summer weekends, most involve an operator who has never taken a boating course, and most fatalities are drownings where a life jacket was on the boat and not on the person. In summer 2025 the state recorded six boating-related deaths by late July at Utah Lake, Jordanelle, Silver Lake Flat, and Causey, four of them on paddleboards, and the state’s boating coordinator said every one was preventable with a life jacket.

Utah Lake’s shallow, wind-whipped water flips small boats and paddlecraft fast. Jordanelle and Deer Creek pack wake boats, jet skis, and tubers into tight coves. Pineview has a long record of collisions and towing injuries in its narrow arms. Lake Powell adds cliff jumping, houseboat carbon monoxide, and hours from the nearest hospital. Bear Lake and Flaming Gorge bring sudden weather. We have handled accidents on all of them and know which agency investigated, which rangers to talk to, and where the records are.

Get everyone out of the water and get medical care, even for injuries that seem minor; near-drowning and head injuries often worsen over hours. Get the operator’s name, the boat’s registration number, and the owner’s and rental company’s insurance information, and photograph the boats, the damage, and the conditions. Get names and phone numbers from other boats nearby; on a busy lake, witnesses leave within minutes. Make sure the accident report is filed with the Division of Outdoor Recreation, and get a copy. Save the GPS track from your phone or the boat if there is one. Do not give a recorded statement to the operator’s insurer, and call a lawyer before the rental company’s adjuster calls you.

Do I have a claim if I was a passenger on the boat that caused the accident?
Yes. Passengers can recover from the operator of their own boat just as they can from another boat’s operator. That is what the owner’s insurance is for, and it does not require suing a friend personally.

The other boat was a rental. Who is responsible?
The renter who was driving, and often the rental company, which must carry insurance and has a duty not to rent to intoxicated or unqualified operators or to send out unsafe equipment.

I was hurt by a propeller. Is that a product case?
Sometimes. Most propeller injuries are operator negligence, but missing guards, defective kill switches, and throttle failures can make the manufacturer responsible as well. We investigate both.

Does it matter that I wasn’t wearing a life jacket?
It can reduce your recovery if you were required to wear one and were not, but it does not bar your claim. Utah uses comparative fault.

What is my case worth?
It depends on the injury and its effect on your life. Drowning, spinal, and propeller cases often involve lifetime care, and we account for it.

What will a lawyer cost me?
Nothing up front. We work on contingency.

We get the state accident report and ranger investigation, the BUI file if there is one, the rental agreement and the company’s safety records, and any GPS or video from the boats involved. We identify every policy that applies, document the injury and its long-term cost, and deal with the adjusters so you never have to. If a fair settlement is not offered, we file in the district court for the county where the lake sits, and we are not afraid to try the case.

If you were hurt on Utah Lake, Jordanelle, Deer Creek, Pineview, Bear Lake, Lake Powell, or any Utah water, call Moxie Law Group for a free case review. For related claims, see our Utah drunk driving accident lawyer, Utah product liability lawyer, and Utah wrongful death lawyer pages.