Drivers and owners involved in the tragic Lake Joseph boat crash involving Kevin O’Leary could face more than the stark prospect of possible criminal charges.
Marine and legal experts told The Toronto Sun whopping lawsuits could come in the wake of the boat accident that shocked Muskoka and left two people dead.
The tally from the crash could soar as high as $1 million per boat, the maximum amount a smaller private vessel can be sued for loss of life or personal injury under Canada’s Marine Liability Act.
“Where the loss is caused by the fault of two or more persons or ships, their liability is proportionate to the degree of their respective fault or negligence, if the degrees of fault or neglect can’t be determined, their liability is equal,” Halifax-based marine lawyer Eric Machum of Metcalf & Company told the Sun.
Machum added that the 2018-revised Act still doesn’t require smaller pleasure crafts to be insured, but he’d be surprised if the parties involved in the Lake Joseph fatalities didn’t have boating insurance.
A picture of American Gary Poltash and Uxbridge mother Suzana Brito on the weekend they were both tragically killed in a Lake Joseph boating accident. The picture was posted on a GoFundMe campaign Poltash’s family set up to raise money for Brito’s young children’s education funds. (GoFundMe/Screengrab)
When the August 24 boat crash became public, O’Leary made a public statement claiming the driver of the other boat didn’t have its lights on and “fled” the scene. An O’Leary flack added that O’Leary’s wife was driving the boat — reportedly a Cobalt speedboat — and passed an alcohol/drug test.
The OPP have not ruled out booze as a factor and said both boats rushed from the scene in order to get emergency medical assistance.
“It doesn’t clear the fact that alcohol (may have been) a factor, but I’m not saying that alcohol was a factor either,” said Staff-Sgt. Carolle Dionne. The OPP investigation involves looking at the boaters injuries and forensics to determine where everyone was sitting in each boat during the crash.
Otherwise, OPP have been tight-lipped on what happened that night as they continue their investigation, which University of Western Ontario criminology professor and former cop Michael Arntfield said could take months.
Linda and Kevin OLeary. His rep said she was driving the boat. GETTY IMAGES
“I would raise that argument if there is an allegation the person was drinking and there was evidence to the effect that the breathalyzer confirmed (they) had alcohol in (their) system and they were the operator of the boat (even if they blew a warning),” said Rajiv Haté of Kotak Personal Injury Law.
The end of Hamer Bay where the O’Leary boat reportedly rushed to the Rocky Crest Golf Course that was hosting a wedding at the time. The boat was eventually taken to the Hamer Bay Marina nearby. (Google Maps/Screengrab)Sources told the Sun‘s Joe Warmington and TMZ that O’Leary is trying to get grainy video of the crash from a cottage’s surveillance system enhanced to show the other boat didn’t have its lights on.
The location of the crash was near Emerald Island at the mouth of Hamer Bay on Lake Joseph. (Google Maps/Screengrab)
The crash happened near the mouth of Hamer Bay by Emerald Island. Sources with knowledge of the crash told the Sun the passengers on the larger boat say the O’Leary boat was “flying” and had its “bow up.”
Boating expert and retired U.S. Coast Guard Commander David Smith said speedboats are designed to hydroplane or “skim across the surface.”
“Normally that’s what happens, the stern drops and the bow comes up,” Smith said, explaining what happens when the driver slows down a speedboat. “A boat has no brakes.”
“Lights blend if there are a number of buildings on the shore … (especially if the boat isn’t moving).”
Machum says small pleasure crafts don’t typically have a voyage data recorder that’s found on larger vessels but the OPP may be able to get satellite data.
The larger 13-passenger-capacity wakeboarding boat was reportedly drifting after watching fireworks at the time of the crash.
TMZ reported on Thursday the boat was brand new with “state-of-the-art technology” that would likely show if its lights were on.
“If you’re not moored, if you’re not anchored, you’ve got to have all your lights on,” said Smith.
In a now-ominous tweet and Instagram post made in the summer of 2017, O’Leary expressed his reservations about night boating, “Boating at night freaks me out but it (feels) good when I see the lights of the boathouse!”
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