Two lawsuits have been filed in the tragic duck boat accident in Missouri that left 17 sightseers dead — including nine members of one family — as an attorney ripped the tourist attractions as “sinking coffins.”
The first complaint, a $100 million wrongful death suit, was filed Sunday on behalf of the estates of Ervin Coleman, 76, and Maxwell Ly, 2, who were among nine of 11 members of the Coleman family who died July 19.
The family and other tourists from Arkansas, Illinois and Missouri were aboard a Ride the Ducks amphibious boat on Table Rock Lake near Branson when it overturned and sank during a powerful thunderstorm.
“Duck boats are sinking coffins. Once they take on water, they sink and they sink fast,” Coleman family attorney Robert Mongeluzzi said at a press conference.
He said a canopy that was attached to the boat trapped frantic passengers in the choppy waters.
“The National Transportation Safety Board said remove your canopies but the National Transportation Safety Board said doesn’t have the force of law. They can only make recommendations,” the lawyer added. “But the duck boat industry did nothing except continue to sell tickets and expose their passengers to harm and death.”
A second lawsuit with similar allegations was filed Tuesday on behalf of the estates of Angela Coleman, 45, and Belinda Coleman, 69.
Both complaints name Ripley Entertainment Inc., Ride the Ducks International, Ride the Ducks of Branson, the Herschend Family Entertainment Corp., and Amphibious Vehicle Manufacturing as defendants.
The suits blame the companies for failing to make upgrades recommended by the NTSB in 2000 to ensure the boats would remain upright and floating in bad weather. Those recommendations came a year after another fatal duck boat accident in Arkansas that left 13 people dead.
Surviving members of the family called for the popular sightseeing boats, which operate in cities all over the country, to be outlawed.
“The duck boat industry doesn’t seem to consider that lives are at stake, and it’s more than a ticket,” said Belinda Coleman’s sister Lisa Berry. “It’s people’s children, their moms, their dads, their grandparents and we just want them to be held accountable.”
Mongeluzzi said the duck boat operators that fateful day were well aware that a threatening storm was on its way — but decided to go out anyway.
“It is clear that they knew severe weather was coming,” he said. “They tried to beat the storm by going on water first rather than refunding the 40 bucks that each of these people paid, putting their lives at risk and lives that they would ultimately lose.”
Ripley spokeswoman Suzanne Smagala-Potts said Tuesday that the company is “deeply saddened” but would not comment further pending an investigation by the NTSB.
On Tuesday, US Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) introduced legislation that would require that ducks boats be better equipped to stay afloat or canopies be removed.
With Post wires