Suit filed by San Diego couple rescued at sea dismissed
By
Dana Littlefield5:49 p.m.Dec. 19, 2014
SAN DIEGO — A judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by a San Diego couple who blamed a nonfunctioning
satellite phone for the loss of their sailboat during a highly-publicized
rescue off the coast of
Mexico earlier this year.
Charlotte and Eric Kaufman contended in their lawsuit, filed in July, that they would not have
lost their
boat if they hadn’t
lost satellite service. In April, the couple were two weeks into the first part of a planned trip around the world when their younger daughter became sick. The sailboat was damaged during bad
weather, and they called the U.S. Coast Guard, but their
satellite phone stopped working a short time later.
Unwilling to gamble with their daughter’s
health, they then activated an
emergency device on the vessel, prompting a response from
California Air National Guard members who parachuted to the
family and stayed with them until a
Navy ship carried them back to shore.
Their
boat was left at sea and sank.
The ruling, issued Wednesday by San Diego
Superior Court Judge Judith Hayes, cited a provision in the
contract signed by Eric Kaufman with the
satellite phone company, Whenever
Communications. The provision
required the holder of the contract to file any lawsuits against the company in
Florida, where its headquarters are located.
Matthew Herron, an attorney who represents Whenever
Communications, said the company had been in the process of switching SIM card providers for months, and that it was a different company that shut off the
service to the Kaufmans' phone.
Attorney Dan Gilleon, who represents the
family, said Friday that the Kaufmans would
file their lawsuit in
Florida.
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Now wait a second what ever you think of this case, if the attorney they hired wasn't smart enough to figure out the legal jurisdiction for this case, then they should fire his incompetent ass and sue him for malpractice! The fact that the signed contract was upheld by the judge, well that means the lawsuit is doomed to fail anyway because it says right in the contract that you can't sue the Company or the queen of England if their product doesn't work.
I still hope for the best for Eric and his family, but the lawsuit road with a payday at the other end to buy a new boat seems to have about the same chances as playing the Powerball Lottery.