Florida Statutes
Fla. Stat. § 327.32 (2025)
Vessel declared dangerous instrumentality; civil liability.
✓ 2025 Florida Statutes — current through the 2025 Regular Session
Find cases:
SyfertCases citing this section
FL-LEGleg.state.fl.us
JustiaFla. Statutes
CornellLII Search
CasesGoogle Scholar
327.32 Vessel declared dangerous instrumentality; civil liability.—All vessels, of whatever classification, shall be considered dangerous instrumentalities in this state, and any operator of a vessel shall, during any utilization of the vessel, exercise the highest degree of care in order to prevent injuries to others. Liability for reckless or careless operation of a vessel shall be confined to the operator in immediate charge of the vessel and not imposed upon the owner of the vessel, unless the owner is the operator or is present in the vessel when any injury or damage is occasioned by the reckless or careless operation of such vessel, whether such recklessness or carelessness consists of a violation of the provisions of the statutes of this state, or disregard in observing such care and such operation as the rules of the common law require.
Note.—Former s. 371.52.
Notes of Decisions
Cited in 10
cases (5 in the last 5 years), 1983–2022 · leading case: Rindfleisch v. Carnival Cruise Lines, 498 So. 2d 488 (Fla. 3d DCA 1986).
Rindfleisch v. Carnival Cruise Lines, 498 So. 2d 488 (Fla. 3d DCA 1986). “The defendant cross-appeals the court's evidentiary rulings concerning plaintiff's lost business opportunities and the testimony of plaintiff's expert regarding a coefficient of friction test.”
Feagle v. Purvis, 891 So. 2d 1096 (Fla. 5th DCA 2004). “This is of significance because Section 327.32, Florida Statutes (2002), entitled "Vessel declared dangerous instrumentality; civil liability," reads: All vessels, of whatever classification, shall be considered dangerous instrumentalities in this state, and any operator of a…”
Bradley v. Guy, 438 So. 2d 854 (Fla. 5th DCA 1983). “52 (now known as section 327.32, Florida Statutes (1981)) places a higher degree of care upon a boat operator than a person who is not operating a boat.”
Boland v. Suncoast Rent-A-Scooter, Inc., 439 So. 2d 916 (Fla. 2d DCA 1983). “” At the conclusion of appellant’s case, which consisted of the testimony of Ira Stephenson, Leo Jean and appellant, appellee Sun-coast moved for and was granted a directed verdict in its favor, in spite of appellant’s argument that section 327.32, Florida Statutes (1981), is…”
Kuhl (S.D. Fla. 2021). “[71], asserting claims of negligence (Count I), violation of Florida Statutes, Section 327.32 (Count II), demanding attorney’s fees and a jury trial.”
AMI Prof'l Grp., Inc. v. Doe (M.D. Fla. 2021). “She specifically alleges negligence (Count IV) and violation § 327.32, F.S. (Count V) against Curley. Legal Standard Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 8(a) requires that a complaint contain “a short and plain statement of the claim showing the [plaintiff] is entitled to relief.”
Curley v. Unknown (M.D. Fla. 2022). “She specifically alleges negligence (Count I) and violation § 327.32, F.S. (Count II) against Curley.”
Arthur Sager v. Madalina Blanco & Ricardo F. Blanco (Fla. 3d DCA 2022). “021(9)(b)1., 2., Fla. Stat. (2022), and, finally, limiting the liability of owners who are natural persons and lend their car to any permissive user, § 324.”
Arthur Sager v. Madalina Blanco & Ricardo F. Blanco (Fla. 3d DCA 2022). “021(9)(b)1., 2., Fla. Stat. (2022), and, finally, limiting the liability of owners who are natural persons and lend their car to any permissive user, § 324.”
Estock v. Krstic, 526 So. 2d 768 (Fla. 3d DCA 1988). “Estock failed to adduce, both in her presentation to the jury and her proffer to the trial court, any evidence establishing that Krstic had breached the highest degree of care imposed by section 327.32, Florida Statutes (1981), on an owner-operator of a motorboat.”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the
Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and
treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.