In the aftermath of the fatal 'duck boat' accident that left 17 people dead, the families of four of the victims decided to file a lawsuit against the tour operator, claiming “Ride the Ducks endangered passengers by letting the boat out on the water after the National Weather Service issued a severe thunderstorm warning for the area, and that passengers were not told to put on life jackets.” The vessel operated that fateful day was a “World War Two-style tourist 'duck boat' that sank on a Missouri lake during a storm earlier this month.”The suit was filed against tour operator Ripley Entertainment Inc, “which operates under the name Ride the Ducks, and vessel manufacturer Amphibious Vehicle Manufacturing LLC, a Ripley unit.” The relatives of two of the victims, Ervin Colemen, 76, and 2-year-old Maxwell Ly of Indianapolis filed the suit. Ly was Coleman's great-nephew, and the suit argues that the defendants “recklessly risked the lives of its passengers for purely financial reasons.”

Lady Justice; image by WilliamCho, via Pixabay, CC0.

The lawsuit was filed in federal court and is seeking $100 million in damages and joins another that was filed yesterday in Taney County, Missouri, “on behalf of the children of William and Janice Bright.” That suit named Ripley Entertainment, Ride the Ducks, and the two boat operators. It's seeking damages of at least $25,000.The fatal accident occurred on July 19. When the boat embarked on the tour on Table Rock Lake near Branson, Missouri, there were 31 passengers aboard. Not long into the tour, “hurricane-strength winds suddenly churned up the water and sank the craft, resulting in one of the deadliest U.S. tourist tragedies in recent years.”This isn't the first time boat ducks have been at the center of horrific fatalities. Since World War II, duck boats have been involved in “more than three dozen fatalities on water and land, including the Branson sinking,” according to the suit. Because of this, many people have called attention to the dangers and safety issues of duck boats, yet they have continued to be used in places across the country, including tours for tourists. As a result, the suit states:“This tragedy was the predictable and predicted result of decades of unacceptable, greed-driven, and willful ignorance of safety by the Duck Boat industry in the face of specific and repeated warnings that their Duck Boats are death traps for passengers.”When commenting on the incident, Robert Mongeluzzi, the attorney representing the families of Ly and Coleman, said, “The quest for justice includes doing everything within our power to ban duck boats once and for all.”Mongeluzzi has prior experience representing families of duck boat accident victims. In 2010, he represented the “families of two people killed when a duck boat crashed into a barge and sank in Philadelphia in, resulting in a $17 million settlement.”So far, Ripley Entertainment has declined to comment on the pending litigation and the National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the accident.

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Families of Missouri 'Duck Boat' Sinking Victims Sue Tour CompanyInvestigation into fatal Missouri duck boat sinking could take a year to complete, officials say