The operator of a superyacht that sank in a severe storm off the coast of Italy this week is likely to face legal trouble over the tragedy that also led to the deaths of British billionaire tech tycoon Mike Lynch and others, according to a maritime law expert.
But whether the lawsuit will be successful is up for debate.
Three maritime law experts told Business Insider that the operator and owners of the now-sunken luxury yacht, known as the Bayesian, should hire lawyers to prepare for possible lawsuits from the families of those who died or the survivors themselves.
“Whenever there are casualties, there’s the possibility of a claim,” said Martin Davis, director of the Maritime Law Center at Tulane University School of Law in Louisiana. But based on what’s known about the accident, “it’s unlikely that a claim will be granted,” he said.
Michael Starry, a maritime law expert and professor at the University of Texas at Austin School of Law, agreed. “Based on what we know now, I’m optimistic that any claims are unlikely,” Starry said.
But Staley noted that “there’s still a lot we don’t know.”
Experts say while bad weather does not automatically absolve you of liability, wrongful death or personal injury claims would be difficult to make because you would need to prove negligence.
“Under English law you have to prove negligence and I think the prospects of proving negligence are slim,” Mr Davis said.
“Bad weather at sea is not unexpected at all, which is why you can’t just say it’s bad weather and expect to get away with it,” Davis said. “What makes this case different is that it happened suddenly.”
Still, Oregon-based maritime lawyer Gordon Carey said, “Just because it’s a weather event doesn’t mean any potential legal claims are lost.”
There were 22 people on board the yacht, including British tech tycoon Mike Lynch and senior executives from Morgan Stanley.
The British-flagged, 184-foot yacht was anchored about half a mile off the Italian port of Porticello, near Palermo, Sicily, with 22 people on board when it was hit by a fierce storm just after 4 a.m. on Monday and quickly sank, according to reports.
The body of the yacht’s chef, Recardo Thomas, was found Monday. Six other passengers — Lynch, her 18-year-old daughter Hannah, Lynch’s friend Jonathan Bloomer, chairman of Morgan Stanley International, Bloomer’s wife Judy, Lynch’s lawyer Christopher Morbillo and Morbillo’s wife Neda — were missing during the disaster.
Divers found the bodies of Lynch and the four other missing people on Wednesday inside the sunken yacht, about 164 feet below the surface. Sky News reported that Lynch’s 18-year-old daughter, Hannah, is missing.
Mr Lynch’s wife, Angela Bacalez, was one of 15 people rescued after the tragedy. Reports said Mr Lynch had been on board the boat celebrating his recent acquittal on fraud charges in the US.
According to the Associated Press, the documents show that Bakales is the sole owner of Revtom, an Isle of Man-registered company that is listed as the owner of Baysian by the online international maritime database Equasis.
The Baysian was managed by global yacht company Camper & Nicholsons, which said in a statement on its website that it could “confirm that the vessel encountered severe weather conditions and subsequently sank near Palermo, Italy.”
There were 10 crew members and 12 passengers on board.
“Our priority is to support the ongoing search efforts and provide any necessary assistance to the rescued passengers and crew,” the company said.
It was not immediately clear who employed the captain and crew. Camper & Nicholsons declined to comment beyond a statement posted online.
Maritime law experts BI spoke to said that if the operator of the Baysian employed the captain and crew and was in control of the vessel, it could be liable for compensation in some circumstances.
Davis said a ship like the Baysian would have “all kinds of insurance” in place.
“Then someone may file a claim in the hopes of receiving insurance money,” he said.
Any claim would likely be governed by English law.
Because the yacht was British-flagged, any lawsuits filed by victims’ families or survivors would likely be subject to British law, Davis said. U.S. law could also apply if jurisdiction was established, Davis and others said.
Maritime experts say that under US law, the crew, but not the passengers, may claim the ship is unseaworthy.
“The advantage of unseaworthiness is that you have a strict claim,” Staley said. “You don’t have to prove negligence. For other damages, you have to prove negligence.”
Davis explained that to claim an unseaworthy vessel, “you have to allege there is something about the ship that makes it unable to withstand a sudden storm like this one.”
But he said it was “unthinkable that the ship was in an unseaworthy condition.”
And under U.S. law, the families of those who died could potentially pursue legal claims under laws governing deaths on the high seas, experts said.
“People should take precautions against the weather, but they take reasonable precautions depending on the circumstances, and sometimes extreme weather events occur that nobody could have predicted and it would not have been reasonable to be on guard against that,” Staley said.
“Nobody in the Sahara prepares for a hurricane,” he added. “If a hurricane hits the Sahara, it doesn’t mean that people were negligent in not taking precautions.”
The Associated Press reported that Italian civil defense officials believe a tornado-like waterspout struck the area where the yacht was moored, likely causing it to capsize.
“It appears that it was a plume of water, but if so, this would be classed as a ‘black swan’ type event,” Matthew Shank, chairman of the Britain-based Maritime Search and Rescue Council, told The Associated Press.
