Plaintiff Counsel Sees Gratton Settlement As Victory
 

Three years of reporting on this story comes to a close, http://speedonthewater.com/new-boat-...ent-as-victory

"This sport is dangerous enough, and that risk is assumed," he continued. "But one risk you don't assume as an offshore racer is having a tattoo artist acting as a safety diver, paramedic or fireman. The racers were led to believe there was a high degree of safety in place, when in reality there was almost none. The competent people weren't deployed until it was too late."

This is what I have believed from the beginning. You think your getting the best, when to save money(by the race promoter) you get cost cutting of the safety program.

It's a victory for all the lawyers.

it,s a victory for the plaintiff,lawyers don,t work for free,why do you think they should.i am sure the plaintiff knew what the lawyers percent was before she signed on the dotted line.imo it takes a narrow minded person to say [it,s a victory for the lawyers].this lawyer proved his case,he did his job.the job he was paid to do.

What offshore entity is Alweiss working for now?

Mike. As you know as chief referee for P1 safety is first.

[QUOTE=mike tkach;4253136]it,s a victory for the plaintiff,lawyers don,t work for free,why do you think they should.i am sure the plaintiff knew what the lawyers percent was before she signed on the dotted line.imo it takes a narrow minded person to say [it,s a victory for the lawyers].this lawyer proved his case,he did his job.the job he was paid to do.[/QUOT

The defense lawyer gets paid also. Like I said both lawyers won. Jackass

How despicable it is for anyone to claim "Victory" I thought the merit of this case was to prove culpability and/or finding SBI liable for the death of Mr Gratton. As stated in the article," The settlement includes no admission of liability on the part of the defendants" I dont care if that is "standard" or not.. The insurance wrote a substantial check and the attorney is running "victorious" all the way to the bank and yet once again, I thought the whole reason for this suit was to prove SBI was at fault... I am really disappointed that as we all know in life that there are 3 sides to every story, that only one side was heard.. I guess all the keyboard warriors will say justice has been served.. I am NOT saying that SBI was not at fault, but before I form judgement, I would want to hear both sides of the story.. Extras, I apologize in advance for bringing up bad memories, but people seem to forget that the plaintiffs "expert" witness was on duty when 2 people needlessly lost their lives while participating in a sanctioned offshore race on Long Island(different sanctioning body). Am I saying "STARS" was at fault in that scenario, absolutely not, I dont know the facts from that dreadful day, however, accidents happen and if we as racers didnt put our own lives at risk and assume the responsibility that is entailed with participation, then there wouldnt be lawsuits with a failed race producer claiming "Victory" all the way to the bank

Pathetic..

Wonder why SBI agreed to settle ?

They didn't have to settle and then they could have gone through all of their evidence and testimony to prove they did nothing wrong right ?

Did you listen to the testimony? That's why they settled.

Going by what has been posted on this forum people stated it was only the plaintiff's side . Did I miss something ? Was there a response by the defense ?

The INSURANCE CO , if they see a number they are comfortable with ,will make the decision to settle , even against ATTORNEY'S advice . Attorney may feel he has strong chance of winning case , but INS CO may not want to take that risk .

Agreed. It's all about mathematics and the Benjamin's.

The Ins Co will always have a "number they are comfortable with". Even from the start of the trial. We don't know if the Ins Co went up with their number or the plaintif came down with their number. We also don't know how much the number was. I'm sure both sets of lawyers are claiming victory. Seems like the only people who lost are his family and friends.

Its about a math equation early on but when the trial starts its about weighing risk. After two days of devastating testimony they knew they were toast and wanted to control the settlement and keep it out the hands of a judge or jury to award. Also if the accusations are true SBI should be shut down, there may have been two additional lives lost due to negligence.

Maybe the plaintif realized he should have sued the boat owner as well. Maybe the plaintif realized that the defense was going to attack the boat owner and place blame on him. Without knowing the true payout you can not know who is the victor. How many races have you raced? What two additional lives are you talking about? If SBI should be shut down then how about the others?

this sets a new standard . races are doomed .. just my theory thou ...

Jeffrey Tillman and Robert Morgan are the two others. If a race organisation has a policy to never stop a race with an overturned boat, not use helicopters or certified rescue people then in my view they are irresponsible and should not be in control of a race. No I have never raced, you don't need to be a racer to have an opinion or common sense. If you believe that a race organiser shouldn't have extremely strict safety policies then one should question your common sense. Would Indy or Nascar keep a race going while a car was upside down? Its a ridiculous concept

What is up with the question "Do you race?" I am sure none of the members of the jury race, and if the trial were to continue their say would hold the most value.

Where is this policy you talk about?

[QUOTE=extras;4253153]name calling is usually done by ignorant people,looks like you fit the bill! NARROW MINDED.they both got paid for the work they did.they both were hired to do their job,don,t you understand?

I didn't know I was talking with a member of the jury who wasted their time.

You're not. You're posting in an open forum. And to refute your delusion even further, the jury did it's job, they listened to the testimony presented to them. No wasted time.

While I know nothing about this settlement I can speak from experience on two parts of it.

Insurance policies have a maximum pay out or coverage, beyond that your stuck attempting to collect from the defendant only. If you decide not to settle and actually win, it's onto a couple years of appeals, then trying to nail down assets you can go after. IF they haven't been liquidated or hidden first... "Sole Proprietor Corporations" exist for good reasons. Any good lawyer will explain all this to ya in layman terms when your blowing off those initial settlement offers. But the good ones wait till a jury is selected to pull the trigger....

For the second part, I personally know the safety diver mentioned in the article at the center of this case. While he might be a full time tattoo artist, that no way takes away from his other skills or strengths. I only recently met him, and spent the day diving in the keys, 1 on 1. I'm down at 40' with scuba gear, and he is free diving beside me for minutes at a time. He's someone who grew up on the water and around fast boats. 10yrs on that rescue team I believe, and diffidently not in it for the money. We accidentally stumbled onto this topic during unrelated conversation. I heard his side, face to face, and can tell you it haunts him. But I wouldn't hesitate for a second to put him put him on my safety crew if my life was on the line. A stand up guy who did his best in a very chaotic situation IMO. Then withstood hours of grilling from attorneys in depositions. Probably didn't change the facts in any way. Hopefully something was learned from this tragic event that helps make everyone safer going forward. It will always remain a fairly dangerous racing sport at minimum.

But in the end a settlement changes nothing for those families involved. Yes it's closure of one small part, allows each side to continue on with life, but that's about it. This I will say from experience.

-K.

NOPE, but no matter how many releases are signed by the competitors (drivers & or crew) they still get sued.

In my opinion Policy doesn't infer "WRITTEN" but more so a procedure or decision making process by which they tend to operate by with a fair amount of consistency. Like Comanche mentioned about NASCAR, there's no written rule that the race will be placed under caution or a red flag for an overturned vehicle but you can count on it happening based on precedence & history.

Just my $.02!

My comment was based on the plaintiffs lawyers statement that this is the policy of the sbi. I dont know it to be true which is why I said if.

If there is a policy not to stop races why do they go over it in the drivers meetings?

Everybody on that jury wasted their time. All they did was sit there. Both sides and anybody with half a brain knew that this case would settle.

[QUOTE=mike tkach;4253900]How can you call this a victory for the plantif if you don't know the settlement? And I still think your a jackass!

Going down swinging., eh?

By the way if the plantif loses then his lawyer does not get paid. Maybe that is why the lawyer convinced his client to settle?

and by the same thought......if SBI thought they would win then why settle?

Why not? I'm just having fun don't really care what the general public has to say on this forum.

It's not up to SBI to settle or not. It is up to the INS CO.

How can you make cast a blanket statements like this? My best friend is an attorney, he charges me ZILCH no matter what he does for me but I take care of him regardless.
I'm at a loss how one individual can know w/ confidence attorney client privilege information that pertains to hourly rates, fees, commissions or other.

Name calling while we hide behind our keyboards is nothing short of lame.

As I've stated elsewhere I'm all about a spirited debate and or difference of opinion but unless one is able to contribute based on fact or personal experience related to the topic of discussion or specific circumstance at the end of the day we are basically limited to offering what amounts to our PERSONAL opinion. We are all entitled to our own but a little more respect for one another would go a long way not to mention supports the forum environment in a much more positive way.

My advice would be to agree to disagree & walkaway when it gets to that point!

LMAO, good one

Sounds like a question for SBI only they can know what they mean & or is implied.
Does SBI cover the rules A-Z at every drivers meeting or just the highlights specific to that weekends event?

key word in both of our posts "If"

I'll take Nascat's advice and agree to disagree, there is too many things on my list to get the boat ready for spring to waste time arguing over semantics. in the end its a Lose Lose for all parties.