Rebel Heart Lawsuit

[smj]

Originally Posted by Ex-Calif

That's a pretty clean example. Let's modify it slightly.

You have a boat with VHF, HF and EPIRB installed.
You (normally ) get weather & communicate from your HF radio
You invite me as crew to sail from Mexico to French Polynesia
I bring my satphone.
You HF goes down and we decide to continue because we can get weather from my satphone.
My satphone is cut off
We lose the boat in the hurricane
Who gets sued?

Other than being married, this is pretty much the relationship between Charlotte (boat owner) and Eric (Satphone owner).

And why you would have to sue me (satphone owner) and I would have to try and get mine from the satphone provider. Oh, and this is why I have a $1M smooth liability cover on my personal actions.



I think it's been stated that the service was never suspended for non-payment.

Eric did have "billing issues" - He stated there were differences of opinion about data usage and data plans.

I am guessing with their blogging, email and all that their usage was a lot more than "planned" and they were getting some big bills.

Having your credit card denied 10 times out of 12 definitely gives you a lack of credibility.


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[Ocean Diamond 2]

[QUOTE=goboatingnow;1589444]It's very clear that they were NOT prudent , far from it , they were Clearly very inexperienced , the boat was ill prepared and they seriously underestimated the effort needed.

Dave


Hi Dave, I dont understand your post? I mean I dont understand it ?

Sorry mate, I see your a serious poster but you think they needed more?

Please explain to us dumb ones what more was needed !

Derek

[perchance]

Originally Posted by Ex-Calif

Well I spent 7 bucks and downloaded the complaint.

Short and sweet.

The schedule shows only a case management hearing scheduled for march next year!

The wheels of justice grind slowly.

Win or lose there isn't gonna be much action for a while methinks...

If the there is little or no precedence to guide the court it could take years. Or the Company may say "here's some money, now go away".

[JayCall]

A couple of points on the legal issues:

To Bill Lee-in civil court, the only remedy for a plaintiff, any plaintiff, is money, so that not only is not anything out of the ordinary, it is in fact the only remedy available to RH and wife:

On the community property issue-RH and wife are married in and domiciled in CA, a community property state-it does not matter in which name any asset is titled, all property acquired during a marriage is deemed to be community property.

On RH named as a "nominal defendant" and, more importantly, not being named a plaintiff-this is only to defeat the jurisdictional clause in the phone contract declaring jurisdiction to lie with a Florida Court. RH (and his lawyer) want jurisdiction to lie in CA, not Fla. Again, a common thing. If you read any contract you have signed with almost any company, it will have a jurisdictional clause declaring jurisdiction in a particular court, normally one at or near the company's place of business. In brokerage cases among others, you will find that your contract takes away your right to court entirely-sending complaints to an arbitrator.

The basic claim here has a lot more to it than the general concept of reliance on the satphone (or any other equipment for that matter) that many here have complained about. At its core, the claim is that the phone company intentionally terminated the service and in so doing knew or should have known that the customer was relying on the service. That goes way beyond relying on equipment and having the equipment fail for some reason.

[transmitterdan]

Originally Posted by goboatingnow

There's going to be 1000s if lawsuits so against , sextants, GPS, chart plotters , autopilots , Diesel engine manufacturer. Etc etc.

Dave


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and boat builders when the keel falls off...

and anchor makers when the anchor drags in a typhoon causing loss of boat...

Pretty soon we won't be able to buy a boat.

[Ex-Calif]

Originally Posted by JayCall

The basic claim here has a lot more to it than the general concept of reliance on the satphone (or any other equipment for that matter) that many here have complained about. At its core, the claim is that the phone company intentionally terminated the service and in so doing knew or should have known that the customer was relying on the service. That goes way beyond relying on equipment and having the equipment fail for some reason.

This is a key observation.

This wasn't a passive failure of equipment (Diesel engine, GPS etc...)

The "action" of turning off the service needs to be proven to be "grossly negligent" on the part of the satphone company.

[SV THIRD DAY]

Originally Posted by Ex-Calif

This is a key observation..

Reality check....getting a judgement and then collecting....two different things. Company folds up like a cheap suit, they "win" but get nothing but a worthess judgement. Happens every day. A Judgement doesn't buy a new boat folks....CASH does.

[atoll]

Originally Posted by Ex-Calif

This is a key observation.

This wasn't a passive failure of equipment (Diesel engine, GPS etc...)

The "action" of turning off the service needs to be proven to be "grossly negligent" on the part of the satphone company.

surely it was "grossly negligent" of the skipper putting himself and his crew in the position of having to request assistance in the first place.

when he knew beforehand his childs health was compromised.

the only other adult on the boat would have been unable to assist with the safe navigation of the vessel,due to childcare 24/7.

the boat had serious defects,faulty fuel tanks,rotten decks etc

[atoll]

Originally Posted by SV THIRD DAY

Reality check....getting a judgement and then collecting....two different things. Company folds up like a cheap suit, they "win" but get nothing but a worthess judgement. Happens every day. A Judgement doesn't buy a new boat folks....CASH does.

rh blog get 10 million hits a week!

its a win win situation!

revenue from blog advertising exceeds $100,000 a year..........

smell the cornflakes "good morning america"

cynically makes you wonder if it was not all premeditated,knowing their sat coverage was being terminated,the sat phone company is just the" meat in the sandwich"

[SaltyMonkey]

Originally Posted by atoll

the boat had serious defects,faulty fuel tanks,rotten decks etc

yup…that be the real argument me thingkgksz

[SaltyMonkey]

Originally Posted by atoll

rh blog get 10 million hits a week!

its a win win situation!

revenue from blog advertising exceeds $100,000 a year..........

smell the cornflakes "good morning america"

I doubt he's getting that, and any hits are probably indexing.

[atoll]

Originally Posted by SaltyMonkey

I doubt he's getting that, and any hits are probably indexing.

who else would call,themselves REBEL HEART,and RED CHARLOTTE without delusions of granduer.........then be "GONE WITH THE WIND"

come on it is all a pathetic media stunt,that is sadly failing at the expense of real sailors who get out there and actually do stuff without having to bang a big drum......

[SaltyMonkey]

Originally Posted by atoll

who else would call,themselves REBEL HEART,and RED CHARLOTTE without delusions of granduer.........then be "GONE WITH THE WIND"

come on it is all a pathetic media stunt,that is sadly failing at the expense of real sailors who get out there and actually do stuff without having to bang a big drum......

OOOh lalalaa lad, me thinks we need to git those ports in ye boat and git you out there quick quick quick before the yahoos eat your mind alive!

I will name my next boat MR. DARCY, and my 23 year old buxom sailoress, ELIZABETH BENNETT!!!

[atoll]

Originally Posted by SaltyMonkey

OOOh lalalaa lad, me thinks we need to git those ports in ye boat and git you out there quick quick quick before the yahoos eat your mind alive!

I will name my next boat MR. DARCY, and my 23 year old buxom sailoress, ELIZABETH BENNETT!!!

i think in the intrests of constructive discussion i'm going to have to take the fifth on this thread,and say no more............

as my great hero said when a woman of great breeding accussed him of being drunk,he commented,"Madam,i my be drunk!but tommorow i will be sober,however you are ugly,and still will be tommorow

[StuM]

> as my great hero said when a woman of great breeding accussed him of being drunk,

Not really. There are two different stories about that remark.

Nancy (Lady) Astor's father was a "self made man" (assuming it was her you are referring to). It is also alleged to have been Bessie Braddock who was far from "great breeding".