Quote:
Originally Posted by mofn
For the lawyers out there:
If the boat is not reported stolen
Not reported missing/lost
Can it be sold at auction as abandoned property?
And can a 3rd party step forward to claim it in the name of the owner, or can only the owner do that?
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Third party representative can claim it in the name of the owner... but it doesn't have to be reported as lost or stolen. Those claims would only be made if it was lost/stolen, or in an attempt to cover the identity of the operator.
Making a false statement would move the criminal charges up.
Based on what we know, we can only infer that the operator had other issues... even more than BAC to be concerned about. That BAC level would have dropped within a 12/24 hr period to be of no legal issue.
The reporting timeline being up to 15 days means that BAC level when leaving the scene is of little to no consequence.
Operating without a valid boating certificate, or having narcotics in your system, could trigger secondary issues if you already had legal troubles from other events.
More than likely insurance will pay, heavy fines will be negotiated, and the boat returned to the owner. Boating operation certificate, if it exists, may be revoked/suspended.
The same thing actually happens in ATV/Snowmobile/Trail Bikes with some minor variation.