Lawsuits Coming in Fatal Duck Boat Accident
The families of the two Hungarian tourists who were killed in last week's duck boat collision are preparing to file lawsuits in connection with the tragedy.
KYW's John McDevitt reports that a Philadelphia lawyer who previously represented victims of the fatal Pier 34 and Tropicana garage collapses is heading to Hungary to assist the families.
Attorney Robert Mongeluzzi (above) and his partner will be joining co-counsel Peter Ronai of a New York firm in the small Hungarian town of 300 where the victims -- 16-year-old Dora Schwendtner and 20-year-old Szabolcs Prem -- lived, to meet their families and find out more about them and their lives.
Mongeluzzi says once that is done, a suit will be filed:
"We will be suing K-Sea Transportation -- they were piloting the tug and barge that ran over the duck boat. We will be suing the duck boat company -- they should not have had a breakdown, and they should have had an air horn that worked. And they should have had a vessel with buoyancy."
He say it's not clear at this point if the City of Philadelphia will also be named in the suit.
He says one of the most troubling aspects of the situation is that the tugboat mate has invoked his Fifth Amendment rights in the investigation.
Co-counsel Ronai has been in Hungary since last week. He said this morning by telephone -- choking up at times -- that the families are not really thinking about money but just want to find out what happened and if their children had any pain or suffering. The lawyers are asking anyone who may have witnessed the fatal collision to contact them.
