@Gs96c599@aol.com said:
I read what the CG wrote. Court will decide who pays and what amounts Guide will pay zero if an employee. Sure no one wants to go down in the prop wash knowing their right if sane.
Do you know for a fact that lawsuits were filed? The Coast Guard report mentioned nothing about litigation.
You’re kidding right? The guides bone was protruding from his arm and you think there will be no lawsuit after reading that GC report? So tell me of another case in any state where a injury that serious and similar happen. Then with a report from a gov. agency like this and the injured said " Don’t worry it’s all on me and my dime" . I won’t hold my breathe LOL. I live in reality not the State of Confusion or Denial.
No, I wasn’t kidding at all. The USCG report stated there were two injuries. One was the senior guide and operations manager of MKC, who reportedly had the most severe injuries. He’s still listed as senior guide/operations manager at the MKC website, but I don’t live in Manhattan and have no idea if he is actually back to work. I hope he’s made a full recovery, as well as the other injured individual.
Both companies probably have good liability policies and it’s not unreasonable that settlements were offered or are being negotiated. It may be that the injured have retained counsel who are negotiating on their behalf. Certainly their medical expenses are being paid. Litigation is very expensive and takes a long time, longer in a court with a very busy docket. Over 90 percent of such cases are settled out of court. Lawsuits are generally filed only when all negotiations have broken down. Since the official report was just released, your statement about the court deciding who pays what is mere speculation.
BTW, I do live in reality. We have a sign in our office that states “Agree, for the law is costly.” Sage advice.
There will be a lawsuit filed then they will negotiate and that may fail. If they go to a jury trial imagine the jurors looking at pictures of the ferry and the poor guy in the kayak for size? Pictures of guides injury and then reading ferry should have had someone watching of the stern? Settled before trial, maybe settled before lawsuit is filed never.
Two years later I’m bringing this up again for several reasons. One is that I’m a writer seeking a final official summing up of what happened (getting through to NYPD and USCG re this is a trial) and newsmedia coverage was poor from get-go and disappeared quickly (body-count too low, I guess). The other is to compliment this site’s commenters on the overall good sense, intelligence and helpfulness of their comments. I’ve seen other sites replete with the kind of nonsense re right-of-way. I told one beginner (a power-boater), “Even if you have right-of-way over a VLCC you will be able to insist on it only once.” I’ve seen people saying the kayaks had ROW because their company had been on the Hudson BEFORE the ferry co. Or saying unpowered vessels have ROW over all other vessels at all times. This sort of thing results in a) more accidents and b) eventually blanket prohibition. That’s why the Seine at Paris is closed to paddlers. On the other hand–if you’re looking for a boat-saturated or as they say ‘enriched’ environment, consider the Grand Canal in Venice. I have paddled the GC many times over the years at all hours of the day, as I have through most other Venetian canals. It is perfectly safe IF you practice intense situational awareness at all times, by which I mean every moment. It is helpful that almost everyone else on that waterway is a professional. Like professionals in general they know what they are doing and act predictably. I am 77 and have been on the water frequently since high school, and the only people who really scared me were and are pleasure boaters (and especially when engines are present, it’s the part of wisdom to consider that half of them are incompetent and the rest are drunk). As datakoll says, NY harbor can be paddled safely–and it very often is. Stay well away from anything that’s bigger than you are. Assume that because you are small and unexpected in that area that you are invisible (something I learned quickly when I had a motorcycle).
One thing still troubling is the fact that an established company sen t out an experienced guide who somehow did not have a warning device (airhorn, radio) and apparently did not know the ferry schedule. Rule 5 makes it clear to me the ferry and kayaks share responsibility equally.
I use to race sailboats in the Oakland estuary which is a busy freighter area. You soon learn your place in the pecking order. Rule of tonnage applied there plus the maneuverable rule.
Use common sense you don’t want “but I had right of way” on your tombstone.
@grayhawk said:
I use to race sailboats in the Oakland estuary which is a busy freighter area. You soon learn your place in the pecking order. Rule of tonnage applied there plus the maneuverable rule.
Use common sense you don’t want “but I had right of way” on your tombstone.
In Hawaii it was known as, " The Big Gray Boat" rule.