New York Wrongful Death Lawyer Blog

Lawyers for the families of the two young Hungarian tourists who died after the collision between the duck-boat and a garbage barge have filed suit in PA state court, against both the tour operator and the tugboat company.

Attorneys claim that the deaths were senseless and preventable. Punitive damages are being sought.

I would guess that punitive damages may apply in this case, given the many safety measures that appear to have been violated by both vessels:

• a non-working airhorn on the duck boat;
• attorneys charge that the dead were trapped in the boat by the canopy of the duck boat; an NTSB report on a 1999 duck boat accident said that canopies on the amphibious vessels were a safety threat and should be removed;
• no look-out posted on the barge (violation of statute);
• attorneys received an anonymous tip, that at the time of the collision, the tug's helmsman had turned the volume of the vessel's marine radio down so he could talk on his cell phone; the duck boat's distress message went unheard.

Perhaps criminal charges will be considered by authorities concerning the helmsmans' lack of concern for safety on the river.

As mentioned in the most recent entry about the Ducks/barge collision, on Friday, July 9, a team of eleven National Transportation Safety Board investigators began their investigation into the accident.

From interviewing the duck-vessel's captain, the NTSB learned that he had tried to send a radio distress signal to the tugboat, and also that he had a non-working airhorn onboard, useless to warn river traffic.

The NTSB also spoke with the duck-vessel's deckhand and 16 survivors, before turning to focus on the captain and crew of the tug boat.

Many questions could be posed to them: Was the tug's radio tuned to the ship-to-ship channel, and the emergency channel? Was anyone on the tug monitoring the radio? Was the tug using its radar? Was the river "choppy", causing clutter on the tug's radar and making it difficult to see small boat traffic on the radar screen? How wide was the channel? How much small boat traffic is common on the Delaware River at Philadelphia-Camden?

Where were the tug's crew members stationed at the time of the accident? Because of the tugs position by the barge, pushing it from one side or "hip", was there a significant blind spot? Was the view up-river unobstructed? Was there a lookout on either the tug or the barge?

Inland Navigation Rule 5 ("Rule 5"), 33 U.S.C. §2005, requires vessels to post a proper lookout. Answers to the above questions will help the NTSB decide if a proper lookout was posted.

Clearly, one or both parties did not behave in a prudent and careful manner, or this collision, sinking and deaths would not have occurred. It will be up to the NTSB to assess fault and report on this matter.

An empty, unmanned and unmotorized barge being pushed by a tugboat on the Delaware River, struck and sank a popular tourist vehicle in Philadelphia last Wednesday, July 7.

The Ride the Ducks amphibious vehicle, occupied by 35 passengers and two crew members, rolled over and sank in 40 feet of water, spurring a frantic rescue by eye-witnesses both in boats and on shore. The Ride the Ducks vehicle had experienced mechanical problems, was disabled without power, anchored on the river, and waiting for assistance, when struck.

All occupants on the Duck were plucked from the river, except for two young tourists from Hungary, who still have not been found.

Ride the Ducks is a Georgia corporation, which has about 90 vessels in several cities. It has operated in Philadelphia since 2003, where it currently has 15 vehicles.

The barge involved was city-owned. It was being pushed upriver by a private tug company, K-Sea Transportation Partner LLC, which owns the tug boat. K-Sea is headquartered in East Brunswick, NJ. The company said that the tug's crew of five all had proper Coast Guard licenses.

Being amphibious, "hybrid" vehicles, the Ducks are subject to a variety of local, state and federal laws and regulations. They are regulated as a business operation by the City of Philadelphia. They are subject to the motor vehicle laws of Pennsylvania while on streets and highways. Afloat, the Coast Guard regulates the Ducks, mostly by conducting inspections for safety compliance.

This tragedy will be investigated by the National Transportation Safety Board.

My guess is that there was no forward lookout stationed on the barge at the time of the collision, and that the tug's forward view was impaired by the barge, riding "high", as it was empty.

As mentioned in previous blog entries, passengers who are killed while riding in motor vehicles almost always have strong wrongful death claims, as they could not have participated in the "wrongful act, neglect or default" that caused their demise. This would apply to the two dead students in this case.

The U.S. Federal District Court is likely the best jurisdiction to bring suit for wrongful death on behalf of the two young decedents from Hungary, should settlement negotiations not prove to be fruitful.

In Midtown apt. plunge bombshell, the New York Post reported the [evidently] wrongful death of a 24 year old man in the prime of his life.

Connor Donohue had just started a new job for a non-profit organization dedicated to helping the poor.

The reported cause of his death was a "loose and damaged" balcony railing. He fell at about 8:30 a.m. on Sunday, March 14.

It was reported that the management company for the building's owner had neglected to comply with mandated property inspections, including the high rise's terraces.

The City Department of Buildings had cited the building's manger
in 2008 for failing to perform a required 5 year periodic inspection of balconies.

After Mr. Donohue fell, the Department of Buildings fined the building management company.

Tenants of the complex said that they were not surprised by the failure of the balcony railing, as some had asked for repairs which were not accomplished. Others noted that the railings were not attached to the building itself, only to the concrete balcony floor.