Tropical Breeze Casino Cruz Shuttle Boat Fire Case
Vessel Fire and Lawsuit
We filed suit against Tropical Breeze Casino Cruz for the vessel fire on their shuttle which forced 50 people to jump for their lives from Tropical Breeze Casino Cruz’ vessel. Our client was injured while fleeing Tropical Breeze’s burning vessel.
Beware of attorneys who say they handle “boating cases” but who cannot actually tell you where suit should be filed in such a case, nor can they tell you what law applies. We are the first to file suit in this casualty. We have not stood on the sidelines to wait for Tropical Breeze to file a limitation action in this matter against these passengers. (See “Limitation of Liability” on this website.)
A “limitation action” is one where a vessel owner files a suit in federal court against its injured claimants and the owner seeks to limit its exposure to the post-casualty worth of the vessel. What that means is that a vessel owner can request a federal judge to limit the owner’s payout to claimants to the value of the damaged vessel. In this case it is doubtful that the damaged vessel is worth much of anything at all. It will be interesting in this case whether Tropical Breeze sues its customers, its passengers, and tries to limit any recovery to the worth of the burned out shuttle vessel. A vessel owner is not required to file such a suit against its customers; however, some vessel owners—or their insurers—do file a limitation action, even when there is sufficient insurance coverage to cover the claimants.
It is important that you choose an experienced maritime attorney, and not one who simply says they “handle boat claims”. We’ve already had one law firm call us who they say represents several passengers, and they asked us why we are filing suit in this case. Aren’t they supposed to know the answer to that question?
We are maritime attorneys. We know the answers to the questions. Call us if you need help. There is no charge to talk about your case and you do not owe us anything unless we win your case.
