Even Boats Can Be Defective
Michael Babboni
Personal Injury
Usually, when we talk about personal injury lawsuits as a result of defective products, we turn our attention to vehicles like cars or products like toys for children. The infamous Ford Pinto case of the 1970s, for example, was about a fatal flaw in the design of the automobile that could result in burnouts and even explosions if the car sustained an impact the wrong way. And then there was the Easy Bake oven defective product scare of 2006, that resulted in a product recall as the toy ovens were found to trap children’s hands inside while active, burning the skin.But even when you take to the water, you’re not safe. Defective products can occur anywhere, but when a defect occurs in a product that’s out on the water, with people aboard, this can mean huge risks, and sometimes, tragically, even the loss of life.
This is something that came into the news headlines recently over in the state of Missouri when 17 people lost their lives in a vehicle humorously referred to as a “duck boat.”
A Military History
The “duck boat” is actually the evolution of the military technology that helped to bring the USA victory in WWII during the infamous D-Day invasion. The military needed an amphibious vehicle that was capable of operating in motorized fashion on water but could also come ashore and travel on land, and vice versa, in order to deliver or carry away troops.
Over the decades, the technology became more widespread, and the “duck boat” eventually became a novelty vehicle used in tourism. The most familiar duck boats weigh about seven tons, and can carry up to 30 passengers with a crew of only one or two handling the vehicle itself. Duck boat tours usually start with passengers boarding on land, and eventually, the vehicle will make its way to a shore, and cross over into the water, where it will become a motorized boat instead, continuing the tour as a ship.
The Missouri Tragedy
On July 19th, at Table Rock Lake in Missouri, a duck boat full of passengers took to the water. That trip resulted in 17 of the 31 people on board drowning as the boat sunk 15 feet to the bottom of the lake. There were two primary causes behind this easily preventable tragedy. The first was negligence. The owners and operators of the tour were warned 20 minutes earlier that a severe storm was on the way. Not only did they ignore the storm warnings, they decided to start the tour on the water, instead of on land as their normal schedule called for.
The second reason was one of design. The weight distribution of the duck boat, added to that of passengers, means that the boat, as a natural result of physics, sits very low in the water. And while it has pumps built in to handle some overflow of water into the boat itself, the pumps had quickly been deemed insufficient to the task of pumping out water in storm conditions.
When the storm hit, the boat was technically unable to cope with forces against which its design was never intended to withstand. On top of that, the operators of the boat did not provide life preservers for any of the passengers, and, when the storm became more active, tried to “calm down” the passengers by lowering plastic curtains around the windows. In actuality, lowering the curtains simply made it even more difficult for the passengers to escape, adding unnecessary complications to their attempts to save their own lives as the boat took on water and sank.
The Result
Four days later, the boat was finally retrieved from the bottom of the lake. Missouri Merchandising Practices is now opening an investigation into the design of the boat. The National Transportation Safety Board is conducting their own investigation of the duck boat manufacturers, and there is a $100 million class-action lawsuit being waged by surviving family members of the drowning victims against both the ride operators as well as the duck boat manufacturers. A suite of reasons, including product liability, negligence, and outrageous conduct are being brought to bear in court.
If you ever find yourself in a situation where a defective boat has resulted in an accident, get in touch with a St. Pete lawyer.