Back4More

Its like going to the pistol range and shooting your friend in the face with your own gun cause you never owned such a gun and then his family suing the pistol range and not the gun owner.

DisturbedVelo22

my gosh, does anybody else think its strange it took over a year to identify a remains of a guy that had a twin brother? seems to me that would be a pretty simple DNA test? Its awful the family had to wait so long to find out it was him.

I just remember seeing this huge wall of water spray up in the air, I was thinking man that guy must have cut thru a huge wave. Then I turned the other way to look at the other boats coming. It seemed like a long time later the coast guard boat came screaming out of the channel. We had no idea what had happened. Then we later we saw the over turned hulled being towed into the channel..... so sad. There should really be some sort of training course when you buy a brand new boat capable of those kind of speeds.

phragle

iTrader: (3)

OL does include Tres' class when you buy one.

SMOKDU

Thx for all the support over the years. My Brother Mike was doing what he loved. and owning a power boat himself he knew some risks. it was a perfect calm day and the driver crosses his hands because he missed the turn at speeds of 100 plus. it was driver error. his wife and two girls 5yr and 9yrs are now in the cold. you guys can still donate to make a wish and help kids whats stopping you ?www.wish.org not bashing on your sport but tell me why you can get on a boat that can go 100mph plus on the water and not even have to have a life jacket on or a jacket made for those speeds? the owner of such a boat should let his passengers know that the vest they have on is not going to stay on in a high speed crash. some higher dollar ones will that are made for high speed impacts. i drag race a 7 sec close to 200mph door car and guess what i cant make a pass without a helmet/fire suit/belts/certed cage ect....and guess who makes sure of it. "THE EVENT HOLDER" . These event sponsors should know the boats and how fast they will be going and make sure the owners and passengers are aware of what they need to run at these speeds. you all know what these events mean for the fast guys. its kind of a flex on how fast and cool your boats look/ don't get me wrong they are awesome boats that should also come with responsibility. so i say R.I .P. Mike / my brother/ great husband/dad/friend. glad your home. im designing a killer head stone for you. wax on wax off. you boaters know this and the people that knew Mike understood how he was with his family and hobbys. when i get it done ill post some pics

thx
Mark

thisistank

Sooooooo suing the organization that put on the event but had nothing to do directly with the accident is the answer?
How does winning a huge settlement from the organizers help change what happened?

I feel sorry for your loss. I feel sorry for everyone that has lost someone in tragic accidents. It may just be me, but I dont' think lawsuits are the answer.

jmoore1225

iTrader: (1)

Is it the event holders responsibilty to make sure everyone wears there seatbelts to & from the run as well? They require you have life jackets on @ all times during a run as well as the driver wearing a lanyard... Should someone who owns a vette, ferrari, viper, Porsche etc have to wear a helmet & safety gear everytime they get n those vehicles just because they are capable of such high speeds on Any given street? Poker runs are not sanctioned races as your 7 sec 200mph car is entered in to... Had the driver stayed behind the pace boat(going by what I read in posts on here) that boat would have never been @ those speeds... Let me guess that's the event holders fault that he passed the pace boat to?

Even in your sport of drag racing with all of it's mandatory saftey equipment when an accident at those speeds happen people still perish correct? Does that mean the family of the deceased should automatically sue the drag strip/event holder where that person chose on his own terms to enter the car & facility to run those speeds?

Your brother knew the risks of getting n that boat, you don't get in a boat of that caliber & not know what it's @ least a lil bit capable of....

It's just absurd to truely believe that the event holder was responsible for this tragedy & held accountable...... When is the line gonna be drawn in America for lawyers to stop sueing anyone & everyone for everything? Don't get me wrong there should of been compensation but only from the driver....

May your brother R.I.P & sorry for your loss

boatme

Interesting post, To Mikes twin brother, I am sorry for your loss. I know the bond between twins (I have twin sisters) But it seems to me that you knew better than anyone else the risk Mike took in these types of boat s since you race cars yet you take no responsibility in understanding that this was an accident . If I was the race track that you run your cars on I would never let you near the pavement. Since your family has proven that they will seek monetary remuneration if something happens to you. Do you want to share with me the tracks you run on ?? I am happy to give them a call

As one of the two the promoters of Smoke On The Water Poker Run we require everyone to wear life jackets. We can’t make them keep them on once they leave the dock, or inspect each boat for type or style. This was NOT a race it was a rally and as such we put requirements down, but we do not inspect each boat (it is not a race) If we inspected each boat then we would have been considered operating a race
The lawyers tried to prove this was a race not a rally so they could hold us responsible for much of what happened that terrible day
What I find interesting is that it was insinuated by the lawyersthat the waver Mike signed was somehow forged, and to that end a hand writing analysis was done. Even after the analysis proved that it WAS Mikes signature, we were continued to be part of the law suit. At that point the legal maneuvers should have been over and the entire case closed since it was acknowledged that the participants were aware of what they were getting into. (Why else sign a waiver)

To clarify a bit for most on this site
PRO LLC (Smoke On The Water Poker Run) was not directly sued by the Family’s of the deceased parties. The families had sued the driver and the throttle man for many many millions of dollars. As a result the driver of the boat (Dave Morse) sued PRO LLC for basically not keeping him from being sued by the families.
I spent much time arguing with the local officials to keep them from charging Dave with negligent homicide since I thought this was an ACCIDENT (No one set out to kill two men that day) Then once the criminal charges were dropped the same attorney I had helped to protect Dave turned around and initiated the suit against us. After that we were sucked into the entire process.
My problem is also with the family suing at all. After the two years we spent going through all of this with the attorneys it was obvious it had become about money. At no time did the family’s admit there responsibility for what happened, and in the end it demeaned Mike and Johnny’s life by breaking them down to value, and translating it into millions.
I think the families of the two men who perished that day should be held accountable as well. Mikes family should have known more than anyone, since he was not new to this. Mike had attended SOTW the previous two years, he owned his own Donzi, and the boat he was supposed to ride in that day was also a 42 Outer Limits with lesser power.
At what point was Mike Scafidi responsible for attending the event (he signed the wavier) At what point was Mike responsible for getting on a boat with someone he had never met before. At what point was his wife and family responsible for letting him go to an event of such a nature that may present a danger to him. They knew what he was doing. In the end it was a payday nothing more.

There are no guarantees in life, and had either of these men dropped dead at home there would be no money and no helping the family financially except maybe by there own friends and family (as it should be)
Because this accident happened at an event .the families sought to get free money There are no guarantees in life and a payday every time an ACCIDENT happens is just selfish and demeaning to those that perished. Mike had kids, and the lawsuit provided for them and their future collage needs (no guarantees are provided that they could have afforded to send their kids to collage had they not won this suit) and millions were paid to his wife to move on. My question is why ??? There is no guarantee Mike would have made the money they said the family lost due to his death. As a matter of fact he was in the car biz so the income he was making would have gone down big time.
There is no guarantee Mikes wife would have been married to Mike years later, since the divorce rate in this country is 50% yet the attorneys used information on guessing Mikes’ future earnings and him being married to his wife the rest of his life to come up with some type of money calculation THERE ARE NO GAURENTEES The Desusa family got a lot less money but still in the 7 figure range (he must have been worth less according to the legal system)

What pisses me off on this whole thing is
1) That PRO LLC was drug into court and sued over this
2) That watching the entire process how the two men that died were reduced to MONEY
3) That the families got money just for being related, and took zero responsibility for their loved ones attendance at our event, and blamed everyone else for things that were in sole control of the men that attended
4) The Scafiddi family never expressed a thank you when we paid out of our pockets to house them in a hotel for a couple of weeks while they searched for their loved one. And while we worked to support all that were involved.
I also never saw a formal thanks to the participants of the event for all the money that was raised that night of the accident by the attendees at the awards that was givin to the two familieys
They never stood up for us to have us removed from the lawsuits. In mediation their lawyers wanted us to share in the payout not be removed
I said it before, and I will say it again. I am sorry for the loss to the families. But at the end of the day the greed and desire to blame everyone else but themselves is the reason that SOTW is no longer in existence today
Many HAVE continued to donate to Make A Wish since the accident, but I have not heard of anyone in the Scafidi or Desusa family donating a dime to Make A Wish of Michigan and they are the reason the kids are no longer benefiting both monetarily and through boat rides at our event. These families got MILLIONS, it would be nice to see them donate back to the cause that their loved ones attended and lost their lives at.
One last thought Had no one died that day at SOTW you can bet your butts that these two men would have been bragging about their day, but since an ACCIDENT HAPPENED their families just blamed everyone else and collected millions. It is a sad deal I hope to never be part of again

I am done rambling on, it is just a very sensitive issue for me since it ended something we enjoyed and believed in

boatme

Other thoughts for Mike’s brother
They make life jackets called lifelines that most racers wear at boat race events. Three problems exist here
1) This was not a race
2) Had they been wearing these vests (which I think would have been a better choice) the law suits would have stated that they were wearing devices that were not approved by the US Coast Guard and as such that information would have been used in the lawsuits
3) According to the authorities reports your brother died due to a neck injury (stated in local paper a few nights ago) so the style of life jacket would most likely have not changed the result

boatme

If you bring your race car to a car show event (not a race) and you get in it and do a hot lap at the track next door because you saw the gate was open, is it the event organizers responsibility to make sure you have on a helmet and safety equipment before YOU make a decision (of your own) NO it is not (a lawyer would blame someone for leaving the gate open) This was not a race and if your brother was not comfortable with the boat or safety equipment no one was forcing him in the boat HIS CHOICE, HIS RESPONSIBILITY Your example is so off base it isn’t funny

10x

Marc, great posts you have, and all true. Sad to say, it's all about the almighty buck.

Again, so sorry for the loss of 2 lives here, but I wonder what these 2 guys would say if they could speak from the grave ?? Better judgement tells me that they would'nt agree with the outcome.