DATE: Saturday, November 15, 1997           TAG: 9711150311

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY MARC DAVIS, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: NORFOLK                           LENGTH:   80 lines

JUDGE DECIDES BEACH MUST PAY $333,505 TO OWNER OF YACHT

Virginia Beach must pay $333,505 to the owner of a million-dollar yacht that ran aground in Rudee Inlet last year and was subsequently wrecked, a federal judge ruled Friday.

U.S. District Judge Robert G. Doumar ruled that Virginia Beach was 30 percent responsible for the mishap and the vessel's captain was 70 percent responsible.

Doumar ruled that Virginia Beach was guilty of ``simple negligence'' for not dredging the inlet and not warning boaters of the latest conditions there.

Doumar ruled that the captain, Joseph Walker of New Jersey, was ``blatantly or grossly negligent'' for not checking Coast Guard warnings and not seeing a caution sign posted at the inlet.

Doumar also criticized Walker's handling of the 66-foot yacht.

``Coming in at low tide on an ocean beach with breaking waves at the conclusion of a storm was not only negligent but blatantly so under the circumstances of this case,'' Doumar wrote.

Doumar issued his 19-page written opinion late Friday. Lawyers on both sides - Edward Powers for the ship owner, Richard Beaver for the city - had not read the ruling and did not know if they would appeal Friday.

On Oct. 16, Doumar ruled orally in court that the city and the captain were both to blame. He did not rule until Friday, however, on the proportion of blame and the amount of damages to be paid.

The yacht ran aground at the mouth of Rudee Inlet on Feb. 8, 1996, on its maiden voyage. It was en route from a New Jersey factory to a Florida boat show.

The boat was stuck in the inlet for three days and was wrecked by waves.

The owner, Yacht Sales International, a Florida boat dealer, paid $1.2 million for the yacht. It sells at retail for about $1.5 million. After the mishap, the wrecked boat sold for $180,000.

Doumar ruled that damages totaled about $1.1 million - the boat's wholesale value ($1.2 million), plus salvage costs ($96,000), minus the salvage sale price ($180,000).

The owner had sued the city for $1.5 million in compensatory damages and $500,000 in punitive damages. A two-day trial was held last month in Norfolk's federal court.

In his ruling Friday, Doumar faulted the city for not maintaining the inlet. The boat ran aground in about 4 feet of water.

The city had not dredged the inlet for six weeks before the accident because its dredge was broken and because of stormy winter sea conditions.

Doumar ruled that the city should have hired an outside dredge.

``If the city is unable to maintain the channel, because of breakdowns or other reasons, then it should hire others to do so,'' Doumar wrote. ``The city was negligent in not maintaining the inlet. There was no reason not to hire a commercial dredge.''

More importantly, Doumar ruled, ``the city has a duty to warn those people using the channel that there is a problem with the channel.''

The city had issued a Notice to Mariners through the Coast Guard, and had distributed a water-depth survey to a local marina that advises boaters how to navigate Rudee Inlet. But the city did not advise the marina as conditions changed.

Doumar said the city should have warned the marina that Rudee Inlet had not been dredged for weeks and that the inlet was still shoaled.

Doumar saved his harshest criticism for the captain.

``Captain Walker never consulted the Coast Guard's Local Notice to Mariners, so he was unaware of the City of Virginia Beach's warning through the Coast Guard regarding shoaling,'' Doumar wrote. ``The court finds that had Captain Walker obtained or read the notice, he would not have entered Rudee Inlet at the time he did.''

Doumar also criticized Walker for not seeing a 3-foot-square warning sign at the mouth of the inlet.

``The court finds that the sign was there and clearly gave notice of shoaling to any reasonable mariner. . . . (Walker) claims never to have seen this very obvious sign. . . . The court rejects his testimony in this regard. Captain Walker did not act as a reasonably prudent mariner,'' Doumar wrote. ILLUSTRATION: The Virginian-Pilot/File color photo

The million-dollar yacht ran aground at the mouth of Rudee Inlet on

Feb. 8, 1996.

Photo

Virginia Beach was 30 percent responsible, and the captain 70

percent, U.S. District Judge Robert G. Doumar ruled.

Send Suggestions or Comments to webmaster@scholar.lib.vt.edu