$23.1 Million Teleflex Steering Failure Verdict for Boater Struck by Propeller
After trial: Final at $4,375,000. The jury returned $23,125,000 on December 29, 2014 ($125,000 compensatory, $23,000,000 punitive), and the Louisiana Supreme Court held the punitive award excessive and reduced it to $4,250,000 on October 18, 2017, after the Third Circuit affirmed in full.
Won by Broussard Knoll Law Firm.
Derek Hebert, 22, was thrown from a boat when its Teleflex hydraulic steering failed at speed. With the kill switch not engaged, the boat kept circling under power and its propeller struck him nineteen times. Teleflex had known since 1989 that losing two or three teaspoons of fluid causes total steering failure.
What happened
On May 7, 2005 Derek Hebert was 22 and a passenger in a Champion recreational boat on Louisiana's navigable inland waters. The boat's Teleflex SeaStar hydraulic steering system failed while the boat was on plane. The boat turned violently and ejected Hebert and four other passengers.
The engine kill switch had not been engaged, so the boat kept circling under power with nobody aboard. Boaters call it the circle of death. Its propeller struck Hebert nineteen times and killed him.
The case against Teleflex was a failure to warn, and the evidence was specific. Teleflex had known since testing in 1989 that losing as little as two or three teaspoons of hydraulic fluid causes total steering failure. The only warning it provided was on an inconspicuous steering cylinder, not anywhere an operator would see it. Internal documents showed the company weighing the risk of what it called mass hysteria against the cost of putting inexpensive warning decals on the product.
On December 29, 2014 the Calcasieu Parish jury awarded $23,125,000, of which $23,000,000 was punitive. The compensatory figure is small, $125,000, because the other defendants had settled. The punitive award is the case.
The Third Circuit affirmed in full in June 2016. On October 18, 2017 the Louisiana Supreme Court held the $23,000,000 punitive award unconstitutionally excessive and reduced it to $4,250,000, applying roughly a two-to-one ratio against the relevant compensatory damages. The judgment that stands is $4,375,000.
It is also the leading Louisiana authority holding that punitive damages are available under general maritime law against a products defendant, which is why the case is cited far beyond its dollar figure.
Ron Warren, suing individually and on behalf of his son's estate, was represented by Steven Broussard, Randall Hart and Aaron Broussard of Broussard and Hart in Lake Charles, now the Broussard Knoll Law Firm, with Anthony M. Fazzio and Barton W. Bernard of Lafayette as co-counsel.
Sources
This account is drawn from contemporaneous public reporting and the court record.
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