KANSAS CITY — The owner of the boat involved a fatal boat sinking in Branson in July has settled a lawsuit with the victims' family.
According to The Kansas City Star, Ripley Entertainment settled a lawsuit on Thanksgiving with the family of a couple that died in the incident, William and Janice Bright. The plaintiffs in the case argued that the company operating the boat had ample warning that the weather conditions were not conducive for boating, but failed to take the proper action.
Peter Vujin, a Miami-based attorney, said the government had found in its investigation that the captain was allegedly guilty of malfeasance.
"This appears to have been an entirely avoidable wrongful death of numerous commorients that died in this preventable tragedy," Vujin told the St. Louis Record.
"If the captain gets convicted, or pleads guilty, that judgement of guilt becomes evidence in any civil trial, as a matter of course," he said.
Vujin said the likelihood of the lawsuit becoming extremely expensive was high, motivating the defendants to seek a settlement or have some of the charges against them dropped.
He said that all of the evidence, when stacked up, was highly damning for the boating company.
"Fortunately, the record of numerous deaths in the past, U.S. Government's investigations finding violations, and finally, indicting the captain, does away with what must be considered a purely specious argument put forward by the company, most likely in bad-faith, that no reasonable Court could accept as true," Vujin said.
As such, Vujin said, it came as no surprise that Ripley settled this first lawsuit so promptly, after only four months had passed since the incident. As for the future lawsuits, time will tell who will become involved, he said.