Foul Play Port Lavaca Tx

[Captain Ahab]

No joke. My 33 foot Sailboat Mona Lisa sank after it was removed from a nearby owners dock. Here is the foul play... After leaving the boat on which I lived for a family emergency, the property owners of the dock told me in a phone call 4 days later, they had just come from a meeting with the state who had deemed my boat a hazard to the coastline and the the state was seizing my boat. The boat was securely tied, grounded, no water inside, and seaworthy. The property owners asked me to sign a release for damages so they could pull my boat further from their property which is up for sale. The boat was moved by them to deeper water and sank within 24 hours. Turns out the property owners committed fraud in telling me the state was seizing the boat to get the release signed. Therefore they are liable for sinking my boat. In addition, the city manager of Port Lavaca TX had my boat illegally removed from the marina I was at, even though I owed them no money, and towed to open water without a running engine, therefore in violation of maritime law, the Coast Guard said. Currently I am a victim of these crimes and my boat sank with all my possessions. On the open bay a storm pushed me into the property owners dock and damaged the dock. I had repaired it myself within 2 days time. Their is definitive corruption at work with the authorities in this area.

[Orion Jim]

There’s no money here to attract a lawyer to represent you on a contingency basis so I hope you have the funds to hire a lawyer on your own.

[Fortytwo]

Where was the last place your boat was secured? A private dock or a marina? Did you give someone permission to move your boat?

[billknny]

There are always two sides to every story...

[Aswayze]

There is a lot of water passed under the bridge at this point unfortunately.

Near term, I think the wise move would be to get with your insurance company and start figuring out how you are going to get the environmental aspects of what has happened cleaned up. You don't want to be one of "those guys" particularly since there are a lot of //actual// maritime laws that pertain to that sort of thing. If you end up in court, having done your part to make everything right will go a long way towards increasing your credibility. You want to be the guy who was doing things right and was getting the short end of the stick from the man, not the gibbering homeless person who's boat was unattended, drifting around and damaging other peoples property.

I feel for you my friend, let's all hope that this unintended crossroads in life eventually leads to something positive.

[Hardhead]

Did you have a written contract with the "owner's dock" that your boat was tied to when you left? If you do, a copy of that would be the place to start, and then determining if the State actually declared your boat a hazard. I'm a lawyer, and you can save yourself some money by getting clear answers to these questions first, and then talking to a lawyer, so the lawyer can give you a quick opinion based on some facts. Good luck-

[4palmer]

You should not have signed the waiver of liability for them to move your boat.
Sorry.

[Hardhead]

Originally Posted by 4palmer

You should not have signed the waiver of liability for them to move your boat.
Sorry.

Good point, but if the waiver was induced by false statements (declared a hazard) there should be a defense. Probably, any statements made by the other party in a phone call would be later denied, so there you go down into the rabbit hole of he said, he said.. Best defense is to document everything in writing - as it goes along. People hang themselves with email all the time - a forwarded chain of emails back and forth is a good way to documents things, as compared to phone calls. Unfortunately, this sounds like a mess.

[4palmer]

You probably would have "had" them as they were not the type to simply untie your boat and let it drift. Don't know how long you could have left it there. Are they charging you with getting it out of the water?

[Cheechako]

It will take money to get your money, but they are the "deep pockets" and almost always lose the case if your info is correct. They wont want to go to trial as juries side with the little guy against deep pockets, cities and corporations, so they will settle just before trial. But it could take years. Does Texas have "mental anguish"?

My ex wife worked on a big case of a parapelegic against the power company. He had been riding in a car with 2 others and they were all terribly drunk. The driver ran off the road and hit a power pole far off the road. 2 were killed and this guy survived but crippled. It went on for 3 years spending many hundreds of thousands in legal fees. In the end , the power company settled just before trial for millions. Hard to figure how they were at fault, but that's the way it is.

[Empty Pockets]

Originally Posted by billknny

There are always two sides to every story...

Three. His, theirs, and the truth...

[Hoosierdoc]

I can easily see a realtor in a coastal town telling a client how to get an unwanted boat off the dock. What is a little white lie if it will help you get your house sold?

It sounds like this unfortunate issue with the boat has disrupted multiple lives. I hope you get it figured out.

Forgive my ignorance, but when you said the boat was grounded, do you mean it was resting on the bottom against the dock? What was your alternative plan to remedy the situation had this not happened? It sounds like you would not have been living on this boat in any foreseeable future anyway.

I would not want someone living in a damaged boat tied to my property I was trying to sell.

[Lihuedooley77]

I need to get some of this straight in what is left my mind...this is all very convoluted.

You put your boat into a slip or dock owned by someone else, not your dock or slip, and left it there ? With no prior permission, or notification to the slip or dock owner.

You did not pay slip fees, or have permission to use a private dock....is that correct ?.

Then, your boat was moved from the owners private dock, and all of a sudden it " sinks " and you say it was sea worthy ? Hmmmmmm.....

Before all that, you left your boat in the private slip or dock because of a family emergency ? How long were you going to leave it there ?

Did you have an anchor ? Would it have been possible to anchor out away from docks and normal flow of traffic ?

The OP, stated he had a slip that was paid for, but the marina manager had the OP's boat boat removed . Usually, there is a good reason for that to occur.

The photo that I see, does not show a sunken vessel, looks to me that perhaps the tide ebbed, and the vessel is aground on it's hull.

For 37 years or so, I have been professionally involved full time in sailing and power boating, world wide, and you just do not pull your boat up to someones private dock or slip and leave it there and go off to where ever for days or weeks. Or any time period.

Not acceptable .

That includes picking up private moorings and leaving your boat tied to that mooring.

If I were the home, and dock owner, I would have handled it differently. A call to the local maritime authority or law enforcement, and had your boat removed. It should have gone into impound . Then after paying for towing and impound, and any municipal fines, the OP would be able to retrieve his boat.

Seems to me that thar might , indeed, be some foul play at hand.......only which hand.

And, why have you not advised the forum, the reason for the vessel that you states sank. Has that been investigated by the OP, and or the Insurance company ? Is the vessel abandoned , a wreck, and possible hazzard to navigation ? If it is not holed, will it float off the bottom at high tide ?.

There seems to be too many disconnects with this sad situation for me to fathom.

Time to sound a continuous prolonged blast on the boat's whistle , and splice the mainbrace.

Aye, we wish you luck, but fear that your problems are going to multiply at twice the speed of light . As I find they are prone to do on a sailing vessel when just one thing is not done properly and every thing else begins to unravel .

Hopefully, that is not the case.

[MHW382]

Why did the City manager have yo0ur boat removed from a marina, and where does it fit in your narrative of these events

[captlloyd]

There is just too much unknown in this post to make any kind of judgement or suggestions. We don’t have a clue what the OP’s relationship is with the dock owner. Sounds like a private dock on someone’s property, not a marina.