CLAIM FILED IN BOAT DEATHS FIRM SAYS COUNTY ENCOURAGED HIGH-SPEED TESTS AT LAKE.Byline: Amy Raisin Staff Writer CASTAIC - The company whose speeding boat flipped last year on Castaic Lake Castaic Lake is a lake on Castaic Creek formed by Castaic Dam, in northwestern Los Angeles County, California, near the town of Castaic. The 323,700 acre foot lake (399,000,000 m³) is the terminus of the West Branch of the California Aqueduct, though some comes from the 154 mi² and killed all four men aboard has filed a claim against Los Angeles County alleging it promoted high-speed boating on county property. After being named in a lawsuit filed by one of the victims' families, Acton-based High Torque Marine filed a claim against the county seeking indemnity and contribution should HTM HTM HyperText Markup (file extension) HTM Hand To Mouth HTM harmful-to-minors HTM Held-to-Maturity HTM High Tide Mark HTM Hazlo tú mismo (Spanish: do it yourself) HTM Hierarchical Temporal Memory be held liable to pay damages. The company's claim is the most recent stemming from the January 2002 high-speed crash that killed HTM owner Steve Coulombe, 38, HTM employees Nelson Brinkman, 30, and Ken Lane, 41, and 47-year-old Chuck Wiseman, a friend of Coulombe's. The family and estate of Wiseman - owner of Castaic-based Mr. Pumps Concrete and father of two - filed a lawsuit against HTM in November alleging negligence and wrongful death The taking of the life of an individual resulting from the willful or negligent act of another person or persons. If a person is killed because of the wrongful conduct of a person or persons, the decedent's heirs and other beneficiaries may file a wrongful death action . ``If HTM corporation is held liable (in the Wiseman suit), then the county is liable to us,'' said Neil Klein of McKasson and Klein, the law firm hired by HTM. ``The county encouraged these high-speed tests of extremely fast boats on the water.'' An attorney with the County Counsel's Office on Tuesday confirmed it had received HTM's claim against the county, filed on Feb. 20, but would not comment further. According to the county Sheriff's Department's official report of its accident investigation, the 30-foot, twin-hulled prototype was traveling at least 90 mph when it flipped and sank in more than 250 feet of water. Based on interviews with colleagues and friends, as well as the nature of Coulombe's injuries, the report says that Coulombe was likely operating the catamaran catamaran (kăt'əmərăn`), watercraft made up of two connected hulls or a single hull with two parallel keels. Originally used by the natives of Polynesia, the catamaran design was adopted by Western boat builders in the 19th cent. when the vessel became airborne and broke apart. ``Speed was the primary causal factor causal factor Medtalk A factor linked to the causation of a disease or health problem for this accident,'' the report said. ``The loss of life is the result of gross negligence An indifference to, and a blatant violation of, a legal duty with respect to the rights of others. Gross negligence is a conscious and voluntary disregard of the need to use reasonable care, which is likely to cause foreseeable grave injury or harm to persons, property, or , and if the operator had survived he would have been charged with vehicular manslaughter vehicular manslaughter n. the crime of causing the death of a human being due to illegal driving of an automobile, including gross negligence, drunk driving, reckless driving, or speeding. .'' The body of Lane - whose widow filed a $10 million wrongful death claim Wrongful death is a claim in common law jurisdictions against a person who can be held liable for a death. The claim is brought in a civil action, usually by close relatives, as enumerated by statute. against the county last summer - was recovered by lifeguards within minutes of the crash. The deep water, however, hampered a team of specialized divers who recovered the final body from the murky lake bed one week after the accident. The deadliest accident in the man-made lake's nearly 30-year history prompted sweeping changes at the popular recreation spot. While Los Angeles County lifeguards A division of the County of Los Angeles Fire Department, the Lifeguard operations safeguard 31 miles of beach and 70 miles of coastline, from San Pedro in the south, to Malibu in the north; Protecting about 55 million beach patrons annually. still patrol the waters, county park police took over citation responsibilities and launched its own patrol boat. CAPTION(S): photo Photo: (ran in SAC edition only) Leah Coulombe, widow of boat company owner Steve Coulombe, grieves at the site of last year's accident at Castaic Lake that killed her husband and three other men. The boat company blames the county in part for the crash, saying Los Angeles County ``promoted'' high-speed boating on its property. David R. Crane/Staff Photographer |
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