Josh Hawley files lawsuit against companies involved in duck boat capsizing

JEFFERSON CITY - Attorney General Josh Hawley filed a lawsuit Friday against Branson Duck Vehicles, LLC and Ripley Entertainment, Inc.

The petition, filed in Taney County, asked the court to prevent the companies from operating duck boats in Missouri.

On July 19, 17 people drowned during a tour of Table Rock Lake when a duck boat operated by Branson Duck Vehicles, LLC capsized during severe weather.

Hawley alleged the companies violated the Missouri Merchandising Practices Act, and committed safety violations, including ignoring life jack requirements and weather warnings.

"This tragedy should not have happened,” Hawley said in a press release.

The lawsuit said the defendants have “been on notice for decades of ongoing safety hazards that posed a present and deadly danger to every person who boarded a duck boat. Defendants kept that information from passengers and made false promises, fraudulent statements, and misrepresentations to consumers that safety was a top priority when in actuality it was their own profits.”

You can read a copy of the petition here.