This seems excessive

[sirbob]

Rip to the young boy - however this seems way over the top to me.

I know Malibu boats will appeal and the final award will be smaller but wow.

Jury awards Florida family $200 million after 7-year-old killed in boating accident

“I think the jury’s verdict sends a loud and clear message."

www.wesh.com

 

[paradise]

Way way over the top.

Negligent in how you drive your boat? Don’t worry, just say it’s someone else’s fault and get awarded money and you don’t have to deal with your poor decision

 

[$hot]

While tragic, what happened to personal responsibility for yourself and your children?

 

[ONE-A-DAY]

Bizzarre on how he ended up in the prop on a direct drive boat coming out of the bow, I guess anything is possible though. I wonder if he had a life jacket on?

 

[Kachina26]

I've seen so many of those so overloaded with ballast, I thought they were going to get swamped by a jetski wake in the channel.

 

[4Waters]

The bow most likely went through their own wake or from another wake boat.

 

[C-Ya]

For Clarity……. That judgement will never stand. The family is now in a position to get a much smaller check immediately or wait years and years to receive anything close to that. I am guessing they will have a check for 2mill a week from now. That’s how it works!

 

[C-Ya]

Oh….. the jury were definitely non- boaters. Just an observation.

 

[monkeyswrench]

I feel bad for the little one that lost his life, and the siblings that witnessed it. I don't feel the slightest bit bad for the operator, or the mom. The only responsibility you really have on the water is to try and keep everyone safe. What speed did they hit the roller? What angle? How many hours of seat time? So many questions...

I'm not the best boat operator, I know that. When the kids were little, they only road in the bow of the boat when it was smooth. My boat doesn't have much freeboard, and I was still getting used to it.

Money doesn't fix all mistakes, and it sure won't change the past.

 

[Chili Palmer]

Wait a minute, the driver was operating the boat being overloaded in the front, taking on water, but he proceeded to carry on? This sounds like the operator of the boat is irresponsible for operating his boat in an unsafe manor. He should have redistributed the load so the bow wasn't digging in water. If the water conditions were too rough it is the operator's responsibility to then call for help, not press on. This is miscarriage of justice. The operator should burden the majority of the responsibility. If the boat hit a wake and broke causing the boy to be sucked under and struck with the prop, that would be more of a manufacturer's responsibility. But this judgement is wrong.

 

[JDKRXW]

The bow most likely went through their own wake or from another wake boat.

Agreed (with their own wake part).
I would be really interested in hearing the details of exactly what the driver was doing for the 15 seconds before this poor guy was swept into the water.

Maybe it's 40+ years of skiing, but 90%+ of the boaters I see towing any kind of riders dont have a freaking clue about handling a boat safely after they drop a rider, or a rider falls.

Edit (after seeing JP's article)
It was a Malibu Response - a freaking rented direct drive ski boat and not a wakeboard boat.
Sorry for the young boy - but this is 100% on the driver.

 

[Lavey5150]

Godspeed to the little guy.It's a fakeboard boat those POS can't handle a Duffy wake.
<-------Surfing happens in the Ocean,Period.

 

[monkeyswrench]

Dangerous Boat Industry Practices Revealed

Dangerous boat industry practices are being revealed following a boat design defect lawsuit filed by Clark Fountain's legal team, co-counsel with The Cooper Firm.

www.clarkfountain.com

RENTED...hit it's own wake...threw it in reverse to "keep it from sinking"...

WTF?! Everyone on the jury pool was dismissed if they owned a boat, knew someone with a boat, or had ever been on or seen one.

 

[Xtrmwakeboarder]

Did Malibu show up for the trial? Tragic freak accident, yes. Malibu's fault? No.... What are they responsible for? They've got tens of thousands of boats out there logging tons of hours, this happens once, and it's their fault? Give me a break.

 

[Chili Palmer]

Dangerous Boat Industry Practices Revealed

Dangerous boat industry practices are being revealed following a boat design defect lawsuit filed by Clark Fountain's legal team, co-counsel with The Cooper Firm.

www.clarkfountain.com

Again, after reading this report it stated that when the boy went over/under the driver reversed the boat and hit the boy with the prop causing the death. The driver should have shut the boat off, not reverse it. I still see this as an unqualified, inexperienced operator making poor decisions causing the death of their child. It's tragic, but don't blame the manufacturer for the renter's inability to safely operate a boat.

 

[DRYHEAT]

It makes me wonder if the operator of the rental boat feels like he has any responsibility whatsoever over what happened. Shame on him if he doesn’t, but as has been said many times common sense is not very common.

in the end it’s going to cost us all.

 

[Tooms22]

As an attorney who works in personal injury... It's often lowest common denominator situations when you hear about these unique cases.

"Oh well this boat owner was not advised of the possibility of this occurrence if he overloaded the front of his boat."

A basic understanding of physics is not assumed of the average person.

I'm happy that I work mostly with car accidents. I prefer to avoid these "find someone to blame for the individual's negligence and poor decisions" type of cases. They don't sit well with me.

 

[cofooter]

Malibu Response LX is not even a wake boat. Its a center engine direct drive ski boat. Nonetheless, still easy to take a roller over the bow if you are not careful. Yes, they are susceptible to this, but also, any boater with even a little common sense should avoid this. If the boat rental company rented to someone with no boating experience or common sense, there should also be some liability there. RIP young innocent boy.

 

[LargeOrangeFont]

While tragic, what happened to personal responsibility for yourself and your children?

Can we say this same thing when people bitch about hitting the wakes of wakeboard boats?

 

[bowtiejunkie]

Tragic that the boy died. I couldn’t imagine.

This falls under personal responsibility and accountability. this case should have never made it to jury trail. The boat design wasn’t the problem. It was the inexperienced operator. First, he overloaded the bow with too much weight for the conditions. Second, the operator did not check that rear of boat was clear before slamming the drive into reverse. This action is what killed the boy, and solely lies on the operator. Why is it someone else’s fault when tragedy strikes?

Lawsuits like this result in unwarranted oversight from government agencies.

 

[azsunfun]

maybe good time for rental boat prop screen regulations.

 

[$hot]

Can we say this same thing when people bitch about hitting the wakes of wakeboard boats?

Yes we can! I slow down to not cause damage to my boat or my passengers. Its also the responsibility of the wake boat operator to not be a sick bag with the wake. It’s a two way street

 

[rrrr]

How much weight was in the bow? A seven year old kid weighs about 60 lbs.

 

[Echo Lodge]

Perfect example of the stupidity of California's mandatory Boater's Card requirement for owners of boats yet anyone can rent a boat with no training.

 

[ONE-A-DAY]

Malibu will only be on the hook for $100k or so, the max exposure on their liability coverage, insurance company will handle the rest. The bigger issue is lack of research on new boat designs. Being familiar with a few local custom boat builders, the new designs are not engineered but rather made with a sawzall and then they see how it works. That lack of due diligence and reasonable care would really open up the builders to liability.

 

[coolchange]

There was an issue with Malibu’s back in the day. In certain situations they would bury the nose and pearl in. Wonder if this was one of those old boats.

 

[ONE-A-DAY]

There was an issue with Malibu’s back in the day. In certain situations they would bury the nose and pearl in. Wonder if this was one of those old boats.

All of the comp boats would, we used to do it for fun, spin it around back into its wake and the boat floods. Sanger, Malibu, Tige, etc., they would all do it, especially if you had people in the bow.

 

[Tank]

I guess I'm out of the majority opinion but I've commented NUMEROUS times how unsafe ski boats and surf boats look out on the water when you're idling or coming off plane. The bow being a couple feet to a few inches off the water line is sketchy as shit!! I've always thought it's a super shit design that begs for bad things to happen. Not saying 200million is the right number but I truly believe there is some liability from these boat makers with this dipped bow design.

 

[Chili Palmer]

I guess I'm out of the majority opinion but I've commented NUMEROUS times how unsafe ski boats and surf boats look out on the water when you're idling or coming off plane. The bow being a couple feet to a few inches off the water line is sketchy as shit!! I've always thought it's a super shit design that begs for bad things to happen. Not saying 200million is the right number but I truly believe there is some liability from these boat makers with this dipped bow design.

First of all why would a rental outfit rent out a boat like this? They should stick to the Bayliner/Crownline/Four Winns/Tahoe, production boats - these are all around general purpose boats. Who rent's out tournament ski boats? Seems like the rental outfit has liability here too.

 

[H20 Toie]

WTF no matter what the design of the boat. someone goes in the water and you not only don't turn off the motor but backs up. i know that common sense isn't that common but jesus this is stupid, no reason for the poor kid to have died,

 

[Flying_Lavey]

Maybe the operator watched videos like this too much and was trying to replicate it....

Sent from my SM-G781V using Tapatalk

 

[oldschool]

Follow the money, not necessarily the responsibility.

 

[ONE-A-DAY]

First of all why would a rental outfit rent out a boat like this? They should stick to the Bayliner/Crownline/Four Winns/Tahoe, production boats - these are all around general purpose boats. Who rent's out tournament ski boats? Seems like the rental outfit has liability here too.

They are rented here in Havasu by all of the major places

 

[ssc]

The assumptions and speculation seem to be running rampant. Unless you were sitting in the courtroom, observing all the information, judging the credibility of the witnesses, it is impossible to say if the jury got it right or wrong. The jury is given jury instructions by the judge as well, that they "should" follow. I have seen judges and jurors get many things wrong, but unless you were sitting in the courtroom watching the whole trial, we are only guessing about what the facts are. I don't trust much of what is written in the media and we know how many "facts" they get wrong or spin.

It may be that the plaintiffs attorney and or expert completely outclassed the defense attorney and or expert. It may be a defective boat design or captain fault or a rental company issue. I have no way to verify any of this and I refuse to believe the "facts" reported other than the award--as that is public domain. I have done 100's of bench trials and lost some I should have won and won some I should have lost. Many years ago, when I was involved with Jury trials, I learned some words of wisdom from great jury litigation lawyers that helped to secure a favorable outcome. Just because you have a jury trial does not mean that the result will be correct. It was always a roll of the dice. Without going into all the options both sides have at the moment, you can bet there is some negotiating going on behind the curtain.

Cheers, Steve

 

[ONE-A-DAY]

The assumptions and speculation seem to be running rampant. Unless you were sitting in the courtroom, observing all the information, judging the credibility of the witnesses, it is impossible to say if the jury got it right or wrong. The jury is given jury instructions by the judge as well, that they "should" follow. I have seen judges and jurors get many things wrong, but unless you were sitting in the courtroom watching the whole trial, we are only guessing about what the facts are. I don't trust much of what is written in the media and we know how many "facts" they get wrong or spin.

It may be that the plaintiffs attorney and or expert completely outclassed the defense attorney and or expert. It may be a defective boat design or captain fault or a rental company issue. I have no way to verify any of this and I refuse to believe the "facts" reported other than the award--as that is public domain. I have done 100's of bench trials and lost some I should have won and won some I should have lost. Many years ago, when I was involved with Jury trials, I learned some words of wisdom from great jury litigation lawyers that helped to secure a favorable outcome. Just because you have a jury trial does not mean that the result will be correct. It was always a roll of the dice. Without going into all the options both sides have at the moment, you can bet there is some negotiating going on behind the curtain.

Cheers, Steve

Bottom line, dead and injured kids are tough for a jury not to side with. My parents settled for $250k when I hit a 6 year old on my motocross bike and I was 14. I was at a track, doing everything right, spectators and pit crew folks all have to sign liability releases. Im on the track and the 6 year old darts away from his parents to see the bikes going by and I hit him. Injuries were limited to 12 stitches just below his eye where my brake lever caught him, thankfully it missed his eye. Argument from their legal team was that even though the injury was small and plastic surgery had eliminated all signs of a scar, the unknown was what will happen in 10 years? Will he have facial paralysis as he gets older, droopy cheek etc., post traumatic issues, etc., so many bad scenarios that were unknown. It was determined it was better to settle for $250k then let it go to jury trial. Our attorney said its a tough battle to get a jury not to side with injured kids.

 

[Ziggy]

Way way over the top.

Negligent in how you drive your boat? Don’t worry, just say it’s someone else’s fault and get awarded money and you don’t have to deal with your poor decision

It makes me wonder if the operator of the rental boat feels like he has any responsibility whatsoever over what happened. Shame on him if he doesn’t, but as has been said many times common sense is not very common.

in the end it’s going to cost us all. ☹

Deflecting responsibility helps ease the mind of their own errors.

 

[BUDMAN]

Way over the top to say the least. RIP to the little boy, but dam!

 

[Ace in the Hole]

WTF no matter what the design of the boat. someone goes in the water and you not only don't turn off the motor but backs up. i know that common sense isn't that common but jesus this is stupid, no reason for the poor kid to have died,

It was a rental boat....it might be an unpopular opinion but go sit out at Windsor one day...the absolute jackasses that get turned loose on rental boats is astounding. IDK the involvement but the pirates cove rentals are bad as well.. Had a guy in one of the rental pontoons that I RAN to the beach a few weeks ago bc I thought he was going to hit my boat..spinning prop partially out of the water. Guy got it shifted in forward and went down their channel as such. Rental companies are largely responsible for this shit...lack of basic knowledge, no boat card, no "quick training" and you get shit like this.

 

[mbrown2]

Bizzarre on how he ended up in the prop on a direct drive boat coming out of the bow, I guess anything is possible though. I wonder if he had a life jacket on?

Exactly, how do you go from Open Bow to under the boat with the prop that is not near the stern and blocked by a rudder.... Sounds like bow riding to me or driving to fast for the conditions.... I have had water come over our malibu if letting off gas and going through double up or wakes ....but its my fault and never enough to wash someone from front to back...

Our litigious society is truly the downfall of this great nation...

 

[hallett21]

For those that didn’t read some of the articles.

The court found the uncle (driver) to be 75% responsible in the inccident. Malibu was the remaining 25%.

Uncles damages were assessed at 60 million but because he wasn’t in the suit no one could collect. Mom also says she didn’t blame him one bit.

Also the way I’m reading it Malibu Boats owes the family and the state of Georgia.

Whole thing is nuts.

 

[hallett21]

For those that didn’t read some of the articles.

The court found the uncle (driver) to be 75% responsible in the inccident. Malibu was the remaining 25%.

Uncles damages were assessed at 60 million but because he wasn’t in the suit no one could collect. Mom also says she didn’t blame him one bit.

Also the way I’m reading it Malibu Boats owes the family and the state of Georgia.

Whole thing is nuts.

 

[DRYHEAT]

For those that didn’t read some of the articles.

The court found the uncle (driver) to be 75% responsible in the inccident. Malibu was the remaining 25%.

Uncles damages were assessed at 60 million but because he wasn’t in the suit no one could collect. Mom also says she didn’t blame him one bit.

Also the way I’m reading it Malibu Boats owes the family and the state of Georgia.

Whole thing is nuts.

For those that didn’t read some of the articles.

The court found the uncle (driver) to be 75% responsible in the inccident. Malibu was the remaining 25%.

Uncles damages were assessed at 60 million but because he wasn’t in the suit no one could collect. Mom also says she didn’t blame him one bit.

Also the way I’m reading it Malibu Boats owes the family and the state of Georgia.

Whole thing is nuts.

You can say that again!

 

[hallett21]

You can say that again![emoji51]

Idk what the hell happened lol


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Boat 405]

If it is the same Batchelder family I think it is. They have deeeep pockets...200 mil won't change a thing. And definitely won't bring their son back. Regardless a sad situation.

 

[nowski]

Ski boats don't kill people, renters do...

RIP little guy RIP...