|
West Palm Beach, Fla., - August 30, 2021 - Clark, Fountain, La Vista, Prather & Littky-Rubin is pleased to announce that following a three week trial in Rabun County Georgia, partners Donald R. Fountain Jr., Julie H. Littky-Rubin, Ben J. Whitman, and Atlanta Georgia attorneys Drew Ashby, and Max Thelen successfully secured a $200 million verdict for their clients, Stephan Paul Batchelder and Margaret Mary Batchelder, who tragically lost their 7-year-old son, Ryan Paul Batchelder, in a 2014 boat swamping accident. It was the largest verdict in Rabun County history and the largest single verdict for the pain and suffering for wrongful death in the history of the State of Georgia.
In 2014, the Batchelder family rented a 2000 Malibu Response LX open bow ski boat for a family reunion held at Lake Burton, in Rabun County Georgia. While the boat was being operated at about 5-7 mph and properly loaded at a weight hundreds of pounds below the maximum rated capacity, the bow carrying 4 children swamped washing young Ryan into the water. In an effort to prevent the boat from sinking, the operator, who did not see Ryan leave the boat, briefly put the boat into reverse and Ryan became entangled in the boat’s unguarded propeller. He died as a result of drowning and significant injuries causing extensive blood loss.
Malibu Boats West, Inc., and Malibu Boats, LLC created the 2000 Malibu Response LX open bow boat, by cutting a hole in the forward deck of a closed bow boat and adding seats. The jury determined that occupant weight forward in the boat decreased bow freeboard to unacceptable levels and rendered the boat unreasonably dangerous and susceptible to bow swamping. In addition, the unusual ‘playpen’ bow seat design trapped and held any water flowing over the bow, exacerbating the swamping effect by holding the boat in a bow down orientation. Malibu failed to provide any warnings or guidance to users of the boat that the low bow freeboard design was susceptible to bow swamping if weight was being carried in the bow seat. The jury apportioned 25% of the responsibility for Ryan’s unspeakable death to the Malibu defendants, and 75% to the operator.
The firm’s trial team sought damages for Ryan’s pain, suffering and death and also asked the jury to award punitive damages. The trial and verdict came after repeated and countless attempts to settle with the insurance company, and to spare the family from having to relive the horror of that day at trial. Unfortunately, the insurance company never offered Ryan’s parents more than $2,000,000 to resolve the case.
The jury found that Malibu Boats West, Inc. and Malibu Boats LLC were negligent for failing to provide warnings concerning the bow swamping hazard associated with the open bow boat. Because the Malibu defendants had actual notice of the swamping hazard and made the conscious decision not to warn the users of the boat, the jury determined that punitive damages were also warranted. The jury awarded 80 million dollars for Ryan’s pain and suffering and wrongful death and an additional $120 million dollars in punitive damages, $40 million dollars to Malibu Boats West, Inc. and $80 million dollars against Malibu Boats, LLC., irrespective of the negligence it found in the driver’s reaction to the sudden and tragic event. The jury also found that Malibu Boats, LLC was a legal successor to the now-defunct Malibu Boats West, Inc., which thwarted Malibu’s attempt to force the verdict onto that defunct entity in an attempt to make any verdict worthless.
| 
