A woman whose nuptials were ruined when a small fire that had erupted and been put out well before her own wedding was scheduled to begin, caused the charter company to move her venue and disrupt her guests, the gifts and her entire day. The woman, now claiming to suffer with post-traumatic stress disorder, has filed a personal injury lawsuit along with her husband to recover some of her damages, as reported by the Courthouse News Service.
The couple, K.E. and L.L., leased a yacht for their August 14, 2010 wedding but the event was moved to a local restaurant instead.
They have named both the charter company, Great Bay Corp. Inc, and the caterer, Escopazzo Restaurant, in their suit claiming that neither followed proper procedures after a small kitchen fire occurred on the yacht.
At 7:10 p.m., approximately within ten minutes after employees arrived at the yacht to prepare for the wedding scheduled three hours later, "the vessel experienced a fire which started at the deep fat fryer, in the galley" according to the suit.
Then, almost 30 minutes later, at 7:38 p.m., the fire department was called. By 7:41 firefighters arrived and discovered that the fire had been extinguished. By 8:19 p.m., according to the suit, "all fire department personnel had left the scene."
The suit states that fire department personnel gave precise instructions to both the charter company and restaurant that they needed to contact the "U.S. Coast Guard for water clearance for the evening's scheduled wedding reception."
However, the suit claims that no one from either company did telephone the Coast Guard.
The suit states, "Great Bay unilaterally made the decision to seek alternate locations, without first making a call to the Coast Guard and securing some form of response time, in order to correctly assess feasibility of the event at the scheduled location or an alternative solution. Further at 9:10 P.M., the event coordinator for Great Bay unilaterally decided to remove all of the plaintiff's wedding memorabilia and decoration and placed them unattended in the lobby of the Hyatt Hotel."
Plaintiffs allegedly contacted the U.S. Coast Guard themselves to determine if something could still be done to rescue their original plans. The coast guard arrived at 10:30 p.m. and by 11:30 p.m. declared that the yacht was safe.
However, by this time "Great Bay and Escopazzo had already removed all of the plaintiff's property from the vessel, removed all of the party trays from the vessel and unilaterally decided amongst themselves that the party would be relocated to the Escopazzo Restaurant site."
The couple's wedding was now, according to the suit, "horribly forever marred..."
The bride, K.E., "is currently under psychiatric care and is being medicated for post-traumatic depression due to the traumatic event, after having to endure the devastation of her dream wedding."
K.E. and L.L. are seeking $4,200 in damages along with legal fees, breach of contract and unjust treatment.
Even if it wasn't your wedding that was ruined, if you have been hurt by the actions of another party you can begin to recover your damages by filing a lawsuit. Contact a personal injury lawyer from our directory to help you today!