Confidential Multimillion-Dollar Settlement – Death Of 8-Year-Old Boy In Boating Accident Caused By Submerged Footing Of Bridge Support

An 8-year-old boy was killed in a tragic boat accident in 2015 when the boat struck a hidden submerged footing around a support for a bridge in the San Joaquin River. The child while wearing his life jacket was a passenger in the open bow of a speed boat. He was thrown out of the boat when it struck a submerged cofferdam around a bridge support pier in the San Joaquin River. The boat ran over the child before the engine could be turned off. We proved there were no signs warning of the hidden underwater obstacle. In 1972 four warning signs were required to be placed to warn boaters of the underwater obstacles protruding 20 feet out into the main channel. These warning signs were not maintained and had disappeared before the accident.