Ride the Ducks Lawsuit Seeks $100 Million

[mystery-ak]

Tuesday, 31 July 2018 07:30 AM


A Ride the Ducks lawsuit seeks $100 million from the owners and operators of the tourist boat that sank this month in Missouri, killing 17 people. It alleges they put profits over people's safety by putting the boat out on a lake despite design problems and warnings of severe weather.

The lawsuit filed Sunday in U.S. District Court in Kansas City seeks $100 million in damages on behalf of two of nine members of an Indiana family who died when the tourist boat sank July 19 at Table Rock Lake near Branson. A second lawsuit was filed Monday in state court on behalf of three daughters of William and Michelle Bright, of Higginsville, Missouri, who died in the accident. The wrongful-death lawsuit seeks more than $125,000 in damages.

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https://www.newsmax.com/thewire/duck-boat-sinking-lawsuit/2018/07/31/id/874625/

[catfish1957]

25 years ago I rode in one of these things after my wife talked me into it. (Hotsprings, AR).  The engineer in me kept wondering during the ride if what would happen if the wake of a large or fast vessel splashing a lot of water into the boat. Didn't even think of storm. 

I voiced my concern, but was told to stop ruining the vacation.

[Right_in_Virginia]

This is such a shame -- all around.

[Applewood]

25 years ago I rode in one of these things after my wife talked me into it. (Hotsprings, AR).  The engineer in me kept wondering during the ride if what would happen if the wake of a large or fast vessel splashing a lot of water into the boat. Didn't even think of storm. 

I voiced my concern, but was told to stop ruining the vacation.

I took the tour twice in Pittsburgh and felt perfectly safe.  But then again, those vehicles were built during WWII, the tour goes over a river, not a lake  (not as deep) and the the Ducky stays close to shore. Plus the tour operator won't go on the water in bad weather. 

[Fishrrman]

The plaintiffs will win the lawsuit (or settlement in lieu of continuing the lawsuit), but good luck collecting damages like that.

I would reckon the tour boat operator has relatively limited assets (and insurance) which could be won.

Did they declare bankruptcy yet?

[mountaineer]

Duck boat safety target of measure introduced by McCaskill after Table Rock tragedy
    By Chuck Raasch
St. Louis Post-Dispatch 17 min ago

WASHINGTON • As she signaled last week, Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., on Tuesday introduced legislation aimed at tightening security on duck boats, one of which sank in Table Rock Lake near Branson, Mo., on July 17

The legislation would codify into law recommendations made by the National Transportation Safety Board after a similar accident in Arkansas nearly 20 years ago.

Among other things, it would require amphibious passenger vehicles be designed to stay afloat when flooded, increase inspections, and remove canopies that McCaskill said last week made the boat in Table Rock a “sinking coffin” when it ran into a sudden storm. Seventeen out of 31 people on board died.

McCaskill and Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., both spoke on the tragedy on the Senate floor last week, but Blunt said then he’d prefer to wait for federal investigations to see exactly what, if any, change in law is necessary. McCaskill said that investigation could take a year, or more.  ...

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