Sep. 13, 2012
Roger A. Dreyer
See more on Roger A. DreyerDreyer Babich Buccola Wood LLP Sacramento Personal injury Specialty: catastrophic injuries, wrongful death, public entity liability, general negligence and products liability.
When the skipper of a commercial craft has been drinking and a catastrophic event takes place on board, shifting a jury's attention from him to a defective boat isn't easy.
"Our biggest challenge was taking the focus off the operator and putting it on the product," Dreyer said.
In July 2006, the two 22-year-old plaintiffs, both students at Chico State University, were passengers in a MasterCraft X-45 wakeboarding boat on Lake Oroville in Butte County.
The owner/operator, mistakenly thinking he'd hit a wake, had accelerated the boat. Actually, the bow had dipped into the water due to an anchor locker that allowed water to spill into the hull. That combined with the weight of the passengers in the bow caused the front of the boat to submerge.
"Instead of clearing what he thought was a wake, he drove the boat down like a diving submarine, and the two victims who were sitting in the bow-seating area were washed overboard."
The propeller struck one of the plaintiffs in the head, leaving her with permanent brain damage, and slashed the other plaintiff across her lower back, resulting in permanent scars and muscle and nerve damage.
The two sued the owner/operator of the boat for negligence and MasterCraft Boat Co. Inc., the boat's manufacturer, for product liability related to design defect and failure to warn and for negligence. Bell v. MasterCraft Boat Co. Inc., 140630 (Butte County Super. Ct.).
Getting jurors to focus on the product defect, Dreyer said, required them "to take a deep breath and be open-minded about the issues."
He added, "We know that people drink on boats, and we were never an apologist for the defendant, but he was put in a position of operating a boat with a defect that was not noticeable to the user or even discussed in the owner's manual. There were no warnings to limit the number of people in the bow or to watch the weight distribution at all."
The often-emotional trial ran 50 days. In June 2011, a jury apportioned 80 percent of responsibility to MasterCraft and 20 percent to the owner/operator, awarding the two plaintiffs a total of $31.5 million.
- PAT BRODERICK
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