Jury awards man $75,000 for boat lost at sea

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BANGOR – A federal jury on Thursday awarded a Waterville man more than $75,000 in damages for his boat that was lost at sea during a severe storm more than three years ago.

The jury of five men and three women also awarded Frank P. Grande, 51, a sum of $4,579, part of the $5,520 he spent to store the hull at a marina in Fall River, Mass., after the damaged vessel was recovered, and for towing costs to bring the boat to Maine.

After deliberating for 45 minutes, jurors announced their verdict about 5:45 p.m. in U.S. District Court in Bangor after a three-day trial.

“We explained all the facts of the case to the jury,” Grande said. “The jury ruled in our favor, and I have been reimbursed.”

Frank P. Grande sued Charter Lakes Marine Insurance, based in Grand Rapids, Mich., and St. Paul Fire & Marine Insurance Co. in October 2003, several months after the St. Paul, Minn.-based firm refused to pay for the loss of his 44-foot sailboat, the Gina.

Mark Furey, the Portland attorney who represented the insurance companies, declined Thursday to comment on the verdict.

This week’s jury trial was the second in the case. The first was held in federal court in Bangor in April 2005. It ended when U.S. District Judge John Woodcock granted a motion made by Furey.

After Grande’s attorney, Michael Savasuk of Portland, had presented his case, the defense moved for judgment as a matter of law – a standard motion at that point in most jury trials.

The judge dismissed the jury in April and ruled that the insurance company had won the case because Grande had failed:

. To disclose his cousin’s financial interest in the boat.

. To establish contract coverage for the trip.

In February, the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston reversed Woodcock and granted Grande a new trial.

Grande, who operates Goddess of the Sea Cruises out of Boothbay Harbor, testified that he began looking for a boat in the spring of 2003 to replace the Aphrodite, the 25-foot catamaran he had been sailing for day trips for about four years.

His cousin Frank A. Grande, 52, of Houston, Texas, purchased the Gina in April 2003 in Florida and gave it to Frank P. Grande so he could upgrade his business and take tourists on overnight as well as day sails.

The cousins, both named for their paternal grandfather, made a private financial arrangement for the Maine Grande to repay the Texas Grande, according to testimony.

Before he left Miami for Maine on May 6, 2003, Frank P. Grande asked Charter Lakes, the agency through which he had insured the Aphrodite, for a quote on insurance for the trip from Florida to Maine. He testified that he told the agent that he would be going from Florida to Maine “as the crow flies.”

That meant he would have to exceed the 100-mile limit on his insurance policy, but the quote sheet faxed to Grande listed no navigational limits.

When he filled out the application for insurance, the captain said that he was the owner-operator of the Gina, according to testimony in this week’s trial.

He also asked to take the Aphrodite off the insurance and put the Gina on that policy. It stated, among other things, that the vessel had to be owner-operated and could not be operated more than 100 miles off the Atlantic Coast or south of Georgia or north of Eastport. The trip insurance allowed him to be in the coastal waters off Florida.

After a stopover in Charleston, S.C., the Gina headed for Cape Hatteras, N.C. The vessel was about 67 miles east of there on May 16, 2003, when it turned southeast to avoid threatening weather.

When the weather worsened and the sailboat appeared to be in danger, Grande and his two crew members abandoned the Gina. Shortly after midnight May 17, 2003, the U.S. Coast Guard rescued the three from the water 150 to 160 nautical miles from shore.

Grande notified the insurance company of the loss and rescue the next morning. A few weeks later, he received a letter denying coverage because of a 100-mile navigational limit in the insurance coverage.

The defense argued that the Maine Grande did not own the boat, his Texas cousin did, and that the captain should have known about the 100-mile limit because all he did was add a boat to his existing policy.

He did not know about the limit, Furey told the jury, because he did not read it.

On the stand, Grande said that he “scanned” the policy but admitted not reading it carefully. He also testified that he knew he could not sail in Florida on that policy, which is why he sought to buy trip insurance.

Savasuk countered that Grand Lakes advertised itself as a “marine specialist” and relied on the company’s agent to help him obtain the insurance he needed.

“They had a duty to tell him what the limits were because he told them he didn’t know,” Savasuk told the jury in his closing.

“One of the essential foundations required to maintain democracy is the true administration of justice,” he said. “Mr. Grande came here for the true administration of justice.”

Grande said as he left the courthouse Thursday that he was very happy with the outcome.