PropellerSafety.com

Legal Shorts – Page 2

Boat Accident Trials: Harsh Forum Comments on Verdicts

Some thoughts for those who tend to offer snap judgements about what happened in boating accidents along with what should have happened in jury trials. When we read about boating cases/trials in online boating forums, we naturally want to weigh in on what we think happened in the accident. In addition, we also want to […]

Malibu Boats loses 200 million dollar jury trial

Parties in the Batcheler vs. Malibu Boats Legal Case / Trial in Georgia. Stephan Paul Batchelder & Margaret Mary Batchelder (parents of Ryan Batchelder, deceased). Dennis Ficarra (operator of the boat and Ryan’s great uncle). Malibu Boats West. Malibu Boats LLC. 5 July 2023 UPDATE In late June 2023 Malibu reached a settlement agreement to […]

Feasel propeller case heard by Utah Supreme Court

On June 30, 2012 Mr Feasel and Mr Martinez were fishing. They were in a Tracker bass boat powered by a Mercury Marine outboard motor on a Utah reservoir. The boat swerved and both men were ejected. The unmanned boat circled in the Circle of Death. Mr. Feasel, the passenger, was repeatedly struck the propeller. […]

Sarasota Youth Sailing: Ethan Isaacs accident UPDATE1

We previously covered the 21 November 2020 Sarasota Youth Sailing (Florida) propeller accident that claimed the life of ten year old Ethan Isaacs. Recent events led us to publishing this update on the Ethan Isaacs accident. Event 1 – Isaacs family files lawsuit A wrongful death suit was filed 28 December 2020 in behalf of […]

Judge rejects Jones Act defense in Duck Boat Case

For decades the boating industry has been raising what we call the Jones Act Defense against plaintiffs on large lakes and waterways, especially those through which one could theoretically pass to another state. Back in 1851 the U.S. Government adopted the “1851 Shipowners Limitation of Liability Act” to encourage shipping by limiting the potential liability […]

Cioban-Leontiy v. Silverthorn – houseboat case: part 1

The Accident About 12 people took a 4 night houseboat rental Lake Shasta (California) in the summer of 2015. The 56 foot 2001 Waterway Houseboat (Canadian manufacturer) Mirage was powered by a Volvo Penta stern drive. Note – this is Part 1 of this post, Part 2 is our commentary on events on this page. […]

Cioban v. Silverthorn: part 2: Our Comments

We previously covered the status of Cioban-Leontiy v. Silverthorn Resorts & Volvo Penta rental houseboat propeller injury case in PART 1. As of 13 May 2019, negligence as described in part 2 of Plaintiff’s Second Amended Claim is the issue remaining in this case. Thus rental boat training, warnings, rental agreements, deficit safety features, rental […]

Propeller Guards: ABYC Marine Law Symposium

ABYC’s Marine Law Symposium 2018 was originally scheduled to be part of ABYC’s annual Standards Week in Charleston, South Carolina in January 2018. However, a major east coast snowstorm postponed the event until 10 April 2018. The theme of the topics selected was, “The Anatomy of an Accident”. The day long event featured sessions titled: […]

State of Maryland files against boat rental operation in propeller fatality

9 year-old Kaden Frederick was on the bow of a rented pontoon boat Wednesday afternoon August 17, 2016 near Ocean City, Maryland. The pontoon boat was running about half speed as he dangled his legs over the bow. Three others sat on the bow beside him. We previously covered the accident. Kaden fell over the […]

Bean partially wins appeal in Barhanovich case in U.S Court of Appeals

Back in 2012 Mark Barhanovich of Biloxi, Mississippi was going out fishing in his boat with a friend just off Biloxi. The Suzuki outboard motor struck a dredge pipe, broke off, flipped into the boat, and killed Mr. Barhanovich, at least partially with the propeller. Bean, the dredging firm, previously settled with the Barhanovich family. […]