Simulation of Ms. Bell’s movement toward the propeller of the MasterCraft X-45 speedboat.
Manufacturers can be held liable for serious or fatal injuries to consumers, when they fail to perform safety tests or to notify consumers about the risks of using their products.
In July of 2006, eighteen passengers, including Nicholette Bell, 22, were spending the day wakeboarding from a 24-foot MasterCraft X-45 boat billed as a hybrid, high performance, high capacity watercraft – a speedboat able to hold up to 18 passengers. When a member of the group fell from his wakeboard, the driver slowed the boat from 25mph. As the boat slowed and turned, water flooded the bow, due to the weight of the passengers positioned in the front compartments. As the boat righted itself and the water rushed out from the stern, a number of passengers were swept overboard.
The driver of the boat described seeing Nicholette Bell in the water. She was face down, bleeding, and unconscious. Ms. Bell had been hit in the head by the propeller three times, suffering multiple skull fractures, a broken jaw and nose, severe facial injuries, and lacerations. She sustained a traumatic brain injury, suffers from aphasia, lost her sense of smell, and is blind in her left eye. She did not remember the events that transformed her life from being an active college student, to a young woman needing constant care.
Hayes+ Associates was retained by attorneys Roger Dreyer and Robert Bale of Dreyer, Babich, Buccola, Wood & Campora (https://www.dbbwc.com/) to reconstruct and analyze the incident using a series of rapid-shot photographs taken by one passenger on the boat and testimony from other occupants of the boat.
At trial, Wilson C. “Toby” Hayes, Ph.D., founder of H+A, explained that because of the faulty design of the MasterCraft X-45 – in particular, related to the manufacturer’s claims that it could be both a high performance and a high capacity boat – passengers were unreasonably and foreseeably put at risk for the chain of events that directly caused Nicholette’s devastating injuries.
The jury found in favor of the Plaintiff and awarded Ms. Bell $30.9 million. MasterCraft appealed, but later, settled without admitting fault.
Hayes+Associates, Inc. (https://www.hayesassoc.com) is an expert witness and consulting firm based in Corvallis, OR. The company brings more than 75 years of collective experience in academic research, university teaching and forensic testimony to practice areas that include vehicle collisions, premises safety, slips and falls, products liability, worker safety, sports and recreation, patent litigation and criminal matters.