Guilford families blame father in boat crash [New Haven Register, Conn.]

Aug. 27--GUILFORD -- The father of a man blamed in a fatal boat accident last year shares responsibility for the incident because he owned the vessel and knew his son was prone to drinking while boating, victims' families allege in recently filed court documents.

The documents were submitted in July to U.S. District Court in Hartford in response to Bennett Hall's petition filed in March seeking exoneration from liability in connection with a Sept. 3, 2009, crash of his 18-foot Boston Whaler.

Hall and victims' families are now enlisting lawyers specializing in maritime cases, and families of two victims are each asking for $15 million in damages.

Hall's son, Arthur King Hall, 25, was arrested June 26 on a charge of second-degree manslaughter, among others, and had a blood-alcohol content four times the legal limit the night the boat slammed into a seawall, according to his arrest warrant affidavit.

Arthur Hall's boating license was suspended Monday by the state Department of Environmental Protection.

Bennett Hall has hired Boston attorney Seth Holbrook. Holbrook declined to comment on the case, saying it's still under investigation.

Families of Jonathan Cook, who died in the crash, and Devon Hardy and Elizabeth Protzman, who were injured, have hired Fairfield attorney Thomas Tisdale.

Tisdale will be working with New Haven attorney John Kennedy, who represents the Hardys; North Haven attorney Joseph Mirrione, who represents the Cooks; and New Haven attorney David Grudberg, who represents the Protzmans.

"I think the evidence is going to clearly establish that the vessel was unseaworthy insofar as the fact it was in the hands of an incompetent operator, and that's sufficient to defeat the limitation (of liability)," Tisdale said.

Mirrione said he believes Bennett Hall's petition is "an attempt to deflect responsibility."

Mirrione and Tisdale said general admiralty rules apply in cases involving injury on the seas. Tisdale said Bennett Hall is filing in accordance with an act designed to limit a shipowner's liability to the value of the vessel after a casualty, which court records said was $750.

Hall's petition says his boat was "at all times tight, strong, fully manned, equipped and supplied, and in all respects seaworthy and fit for the service in which she was engaged."

It continues, "The injuries and the fatality were caused by an unknown source" and denies that the accident "was caused or contributed to by any negligence or fault" on his son's part.

The answer to the petition filed on behalf of the Cook, Hardy and Protzman families say the vessel was not seaworthy, and that Bennett Hall was aware of the boat's "unseaworthy condition."

They claim he was careless and negligent "in allowing the vessel to be operated by Arthur King Hall who was known to be incompetent," and "in allowing the vessel to be operated by Arthur King Hall knowing that (he) was intoxicated or prone to become intoxicated while operating the boat."

The responses also say the Cook and Hardy families are each owed $15 million in damages and the Protzman family is owed $500,000.

In addition to second-degree manslaughter, Arthur Hall is accused of second-degree manslaughter with a vessel, two counts of second-degree assault, first-degree reckless endangerment and first-degree reckless operation of a vessel while under the influence of intoxicating liquor or drugs.

Because he was arrested for operating the boat under the influence, Hall's boating license will be suspended through Nov. 21, a decision reached by hearing officer Kenneth Collette after a hearing was held Aug. 16 at DEP marine headquarters.

To see more of New Haven Register, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.nhregister.com.

Copyright (c) 2010, New Haven Register, Conn.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

For more information about the content services offered by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services (MCT), visit www.mctinfoservices.com, e-mail services@mctinfoservices.com, or call 866-280-5210 (outside the United States, call +1 312-222-4544)