(a)

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Terms Used In Tennessee Code 69-9-215

  • Boat: means any vessel:
    (A) Manufactured or used primarily for noncommercial use. See Tennessee Code 69-9-204
  • Common law: The legal system that originated in England and is now in use in the United States. It is based on judicial decisions rather than legislative action.
  • Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
  • Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
  • Operator: means the person who operates or has charge of the navigation or use of a motorboat or vessel. See Tennessee Code 69-9-204
  • Owner: includes a person entitled to the use or possession of a motorboat or vessel subject to an interest in another person, reserved or created by agreement and securing payment or performance of an obligation, but "owner" excludes a lessee under a lease not intended as security. See Tennessee Code 69-9-204
  • Person: means an individual, partnership, firm, corporation, association, or other entity. See Tennessee Code 69-9-204
  • Property: includes both personal and real property. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
  • State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the several territories of the United States. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
  • United States: includes the District of Columbia and the several territories of the United States. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
  • Use: means to operate, navigate or employ. See Tennessee Code 69-9-204
  • Vessel: means every description of watercraft, other than a seaplane on the water, used or capable of being used as a means of transportation on water. See Tennessee Code 69-9-204
(1) The owner of a vessel, other than a bona fide person engaged in the business of renting boats or a person engaged in the business of selling, repairing or manufacturing boats, that loans a boat to a consumer or potential consumer on a temporary basis, shall be liable for any injury or damage occasioned by the negligent operation of that vessel, whether such negligence consists of a violation of the laws of this state, or neglecting to observe such ordinary care and such operation as the rules of the common law require.
(2) The operator of a boat that has been rented from a person engaged in the business of renting boats or that is on temporary loan from a person engaged in the business of selling, repairing, or manufacturing boats shall be liable for any injury or damage occasioned by the negligent operation of that vessel, whether such negligence consists of a violation of the laws of this state or neglecting to observe such ordinary care and such operation as the rules of the common law require.
(3) Nothing contained in subdivisions (a)(1) and (2) shall prohibit the application of common law liability as a basis for liability of a bona fide person engaged in the business of renting boats or a person engaged in the business of selling, repairing or manufacturing boats that loans a boat to a consumer or potential consumer on a temporary basis for injury or damages occasioned by the negligent operation of that vessel.
(b)

(1) The owner is not liable, however, unless such vessel is being used with the owner’s express or implied consent. It shall be presumed that such vessel is being operated with the knowledge and consent of the owner, if at the time of the injury or damage, it is under the control of the owner’s spouse, father, mother, brother, sister, son, daughter, or other immediate member of the owner’s family.
(2) In all actions for injury to persons or property caused by the negligent operation or use of any boat, vessel or motor propelled watercraft within this state, proof of ownership of such vessel shall be prima facie evidence that such vessel at the time of the cause of action was being operated and used with authority, consent and knowledge of the owner in the transaction out of which such injury or cause of action arose, and such proof of ownership likewise shall be prima facie evidence that such vessel was being operated by the owner, or by the owner’s servant, for the owner’s use and benefit and within the course and scope of the servant’s employment. The prima facie evidence provisions of this subdivision (b)(2) shall also apply in cases of the negligent operation of a vessel being test-driven by a prospective purchaser with the knowledge and consent of the seller or the seller’s agent whether or not the seller or the seller’s agent is present in the vessel at the time of the alleged negligent operation. This section is intended to be remedial and it is the legislative intent that it be given a liberal construction.
(c) Nothing contained in this section shall be construed to relieve any other person from any liability that that person would otherwise have, but nothing contained in this section shall be construed to authorize or permit any recovery in excess of injury or damage actually incurred.
(d) This chapter shall not be construed to affect any rights accorded owners under the laws of the United States.
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