Roane v. Greenwich Swim Committee
This tort action stems from injuries sustained by Stephen Roane during a one-mile swim event in Long Island Sound and a subsequent rescue attempt. Plaintiffs, Stephen and Margot Roane, sued the event organizer Greenwich Swim Committee (GSC), boat owner Walter McDermott, and boat manufacturer S2 Yachts, Inc. The court applied general maritime law. It granted S2's motions to preclude plaintiffs' expert witness and for summary judgment, finding the expert's methodology unreliable regarding design defects. However, the court denied GSC and McDermott's motion for summary judgment and granted the plaintiffs' cross-motion to strike their affirmative defenses of waiver and assumption of risk, deeming the waiver unenforceable and assumption of risk inapplicable in admiralty law. The case will proceed to trial against GSC and McDermott.