Miami drawbridge crashes down on MY Rockstar

Wow. I never thought about that possibility. Now something new for me to worry about.

One thing I've always done is heeded that warning and others made by bridge and lock tenders.

Lucky no one got seriously injured or killed. Boat can be repaired.

And Channel 4 had interesting coverage. http://miami.cbslocal.com/2014/12/02/part-of-draw-bridge-crashes-down-on-mega-yacht/

The caption on the broadcast reads "Yacht hits Drawbridge." Yeah the yacht should have known I was going to suddenly drop.

I feel very badly for the owner as there are so many complex issues. Who is liable? You run over a problem with a road and damage your car, it falls on you as an assumed risk of driving on the road and is generally covered with comprehensive insurance. You may sue a municipality over something like a pothole but collecting is rare and even cities that pay, like Chicago, pay less than half the loss when they do pay.

Now assuming an insurance claim, another difficult issue. Insurance will pay for returning a car or boat to it's previous condition. Most policies do not cover loss of value it it can be fully repaired. We've already discussed the loss of value here. Asking price was $20,900,000. And what about loss of charter income? Did they have business interruption insurance? Even if not for the issue of perception it would lose value just in the time out of service. And who even knows the value of a boat of this nature. It isn't the asking price as it would have sold.

This is before considering whoever was towing the boat. Do they have any liability?

Oh and if courts involved, which courts prevail? US or Cayman?

This is going to be a very lingering disaster for the boat owner.

Towboat situation depends on the specific contract and the regulations governing his business. Who hired the towboat will figure into all this at some point.

As to the Dept of Transportation, that becomes a very difficult case to win. It gets into a lot over presumption of possibilities and negligence vs. gross negligence and much more. Much will depend on what caused the collapse and whether warnings had existed.

Under General Liability I found this:
In accordance with Chapter 768.28, Florida Statues, the limits of liability (under the waiver of sovereign immunity law) are $200,000 per person’s claim and $300,000 per occurrence for all claims occurring after 10/1/2011.

I don't know for certain that applies here. But Florida at one time worked under a law of sovereignty. Then who actually operates the bridge and who do the employees work for?

Very tangled and slow to resolve.

The one article says the bridge caused 10's of thousands of dollars of damage to the yacht. More like 10 times that.

On the Welland Canal there a several bridge of all type.
When you approach a bridge you MUST wait for a green light, when the green light is displayed the bridge locks are driven and then there is no way the bridge can come down.
Below are few few bridge accidents:
1974 down bound Welland Canal laker hits bridge :http://www.maritimehistoryofthegreatlakes.ca/documents/scanner/07/01/default.asp?ID=c004

August 11/01 down bound Welland Canal ship hits bridge,ship had green light but few minutes latter the operator started bridge down.


October 2013 Detroit drunk operator lowered bridge.
http://www.professionalmariner.com/...e-after-drunk-bridge-tender-lowered-the-span/

I think the bridges are owned by the state. Locks, some are at least, are Army Corps.

• Boat Name: ROCKSTAR
• Year: 2009
• Previous Price: US$ 19,900,000 (04/13)
• Current Price: US$ 20,900,000 (09/14)
• Located in Ft Lauderdale, FL
• Hull Material: Aluminum

ROCKSTAR is the latest delivery of the enormously popular 161 series of Trinity Yachts in which 17 yachts have been delivered or are currently under construction. ROCKSTAR has a contemporary interior by the award winning Patrick Knowles Designs, as can be seen in the accompanying photos. It should be mentioned that the yacht can be further customized with the addition of new owner's art and soft goods furnishings. Perhaps the most unique design aspect of this series of yacht is the split-level on deck master stateroom featuring 280 degrees visibility. Upon seeing the master stateroom for the first time most people are overwhelmed by the spaciousness of the room. ROCKSTAR has her tender and personal watercraft storage on the main deck which allows for a completely unobstructed Sun Deck with built in Jacuzzi, loungers and W/C. ROCKSTAR has it all in a 161' yacht - 5 staterooms, room for up to 10 crew, reliable Caterpillar power, 17 knot cruising speed, Quantum Koop Nautic stabilizers, ABS classification and MCA compliant.

Most bridges in Fl are operated by third party vendors under the state or municipality. Towboat may have liability as some sharp lawyer may say they should have seen the span coming down (check video). That's also like telling Tracy Morgan that he has liability in the truck wreck that killed his friend since Wal-Mart is saying that he didn't have a seatbelt on.
Looking at the video I think it's a testament to Trinity Yachts' build process that the whole hardtop/arch wasn't sheared off, but that the yacht stopped in her tracks.