Our client and her husband owned a 20' jet boat.  He had equipped the boat with a powerful V-8 automobile engine, and the two had spent the summer optimizing the hull for appearance and speed by sanding and then painting it.  One Saturday in mid-August, it was nearly ready to be put in the water and enjoyed.  The two of them spent most of the day finishing details and consuming a few cans of beer.  After fueling the boat at a nearby gas station, they trailered the jet boat to a popular lake chain north of town, launched it at a public launch, and drove it to a restaurant/bar on the beach of one of the lakes to meet their children and grandchildren for drinks and dinner. 

After dinner, as they were preparing to take the boat back to the public launch and remove it from the water, the couple encountered some acquaintances and agreed to take them for a short ride in the boat before taking it out of the water.  As they were approaching the public launch with their passengers on board, an 18' runabout, operated by a teenager living on one of the lakes in the chain with his family, collided with their jet boat.

Our client's husband, the jet boat's operator, was killed in the collision, along with two passengers.  Two of the three survivors were injured.  Our client sustained only some superficial injuries.

Our client’s deceased husband was slightly over the legal limit for operating a boat while intoxicated.  We had to achieve a recovery of damages despite his having consumed alcohol.

We commenced a wrongful death action against the owner of the runabout, the teenager's father, in St. Louis County District Court in Hibbing.  The parties all agreed to arbitrate the various claims.  The arbitrator found both boat operators equally at fault.  After allowance for comparative fault, our widow was paid nearly $500,000.