39 Million Jury Verdict in Jet Ski Accident

Personal Water Craft / WaveRunner Injury & Wrongful Death – $39,000,000.00 Jury Verdict, June 2011
Jet ski accident lawyer Robbie B. Baker, along with co-counsel, won a hard fought battle against Yamaha that lasted approximately five years and culminated in a six-week trial in West Palm Beach. The jet ski incident claimed the life of one teen, 14-year-old Jaysell Perez, and left another, Samantha Archer, scarred and mutilated for life. Plaintiffs’ attorneys accused Yamaha Motor Corp. USA of failing to correct a known steering defect with the personal water craft and then failing to adequately warn people that an operator could not steer without throttle. This defect was particularly dangerous for a first time operator, such as Samantha Archer, as she had no idea that she had to increase energy in a collision avoidance situation. The jury found that this defect resulted in Perez and Archer crashing into a boat and awarded a $39,000,000 verdict. Yamaha requested that the verdict be thrown out, but a Palm Beach County Circuit Judge rejected arguments raised by Yamaha’s attorneys and denied the manufacturer’s request to throw out the verdict.