It seems that Tony Buckingham, owner of “The Beast” Ngoni, has no love for racing dinghies in his exclusion zone. In July a 420 sailing out of Courageous Sailing Center for Youth, the well-known and well-regarded nonprofit sailing center in Boston, Massachusetts, allegedly scratched Buckingham’s $50 million sailing yacht, and it looks like the oil executive is trying to get even. Courageous has filed a limitation of liability action in federal court, using an obscure 1851 law to limit their liability for the allision to the value of the 420, estimated at $1,000. If successful, then despite all the lawyers’ fees in the world, Courageous would not have to pay more than $1,000 to repair the damages Ngoni allegedly suffered.

The case is currently pending before the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts (Case No. 1:19-CV-10137-DPW).

links to other info and the complaint may be found at: http://www.boatinglaw.com/ maritimearticles/ courageous420limitation.html

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