Nathan Carman loses insurance case; judge finds he made faulty repairs to boat

PROVIDENCE -- A federal judge ruled Monday that insurers do not have to pay a Vermont man's claim for a boat lost at sea during an ill-fated fishing trip in September 2016.

U.S. District Court Judge John J. McConnell Jr. rejected Nathan Carman's arguments that boat insurers are obligated to provide $85,000 in insurance coverage for his 31-foot Chicken Pox, which vanished Sept. 18, 2016. Carman's mother, 54-year-old Linda Carman, is believed to have been aboard when the boat presumably went down. She has not been seen since.

Carman, 26, of Vernon, Vermont, was found on a life raft seven days after he said the boat sank.

McConnell found that it was Carman's own faulty repairs that likely contributed to the boat's sinking. Carman had removed a bulkhead from the boat as well as trim tabs by drilling four half-dollar-size holes in the back of the vessel. Carman testified that he plugged those holes with epoxy putty, but did not follow the instructions of a fiberglass repair kit he had purchased.

"The removal of the trim tabs and the faulty repairs rendered the boat unseaworthy and in poor condition. Having four holes in the back of the boat lends itself to taking water on. It is more likely than not that this improper repair at least indirectly caused water to fill up the bilge, causing the boat to sink," McConnell wrote in ruling in favor of the Boat Owners Association of the United States and National Liability & Fire Insurance Co.

The insurance policy excluded coverage for "any loss, damage, expense or cost of repair caused directly or indirectly by incomplete, improper or faulty repair."

McConnell rejected Carman's arguments that he did not accept the policy's terms because he never received it in the mail, finding instead that Carman had corresponded with the insurer and even increased the value of the policy by making improvements.

Underlying the case are allegations by Carman's family that Carman intended to sink the boat and that he shot to death his grandfather, John Chaklos, in 2013.

McConnell issued an order before the start of the bench trial specifying that he would not be trying, at least initially, counts that allege intentional acts by Carman. He did not allow evidence regarding either the shooting death of Chakalos or questions about whether Carman caused the death of his mother.

McConnell specified in Monday's ruling that he was not addressing those issues. "To be clear, the Court is making no determination of whether Mr. Carman intended to sink his boat or to harm his mother," McConnell wrote.

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