GREEN COVE SPRINGS, Fla. – Attorneys representing the parents of a toddler who was injured in a boating incident in Clay County held a news conference Thursday to discuss a lawsuit against the boat manufacturer and the Jacksonville-based store that sold the boat.
Last November, attorneys representing the parents of an 18-month-old girl, who was severely injured in a boating incident in August 2024, filed a lawsuit against Bombardier Recreational Products and Jacksonville Powersports, claiming the manufacturer and the store were negligent in the manufacturing and selling of a “defective” personal watercraft.
According to the lawsuit, in July 2024, William Grullon and Sheila Feliciano bought a brand-new Sea-Doo Switch, a personal watercraft made by Bombardier, from the store Jacksonville Powersports on Atlantic Boulevard.
On Aug. 25, Grullon and Feliciano were out in the water with their daughter Vianca, and while approaching the boat ramp at Black Creek Marina in Green Cove Springs, the Sea-Doo Switch “suddenly and without warning flipped upside down,” according to the lawsuit.
As a result, all passengers of the watercraft were ejected, and Vianca was trapped underneath for about 20 minutes, according to the family attorney.
By the time rescuers were able to locate her and remove her from the water, Vianca had suffered a catastrophic anoxic brain injury, the lawsuit states.
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“Instead of playing with Barbie dolls or building little houses, she has oxygen tanks and feeding tubes. She’s a young girl who will never be able to say to her parents, ‘I love you.’ She has neurologically devastating injuries and needs around-the-clock medical care, for feeding, for rehabilitation and for life,” attorney Judd Rosen said during a Thursday news conference.
The lawsuit states the watercraft was sold and marketed/advertised as a “safe, reliable and seaworthy vessel, however, the subject SEADOO SWITCH was defective,” and that Vianca sustained “catastrophic injuries” as a result of the “defective and negligent design, manufacture, distribution and sale” of the watercraft.
“We’re here at the site, at the scene where flat waters exist in a No Wake Zone, and there is no reason why this vessel should have flipped somersault back over forward, catapulting every single occupant into the water and trapping his daughter underneath,” Rosen said. “We have filed a lawsuit alleging a vessel is defective when this type of thing happens.”
Rosen said there are other reports of the same vessel made by the manufacturer flipping in calm waters.
“What is marketed as safe for each of you and for all of us is a death trap. My clients do not want any of you or your families to live the rest of your lives the way they have to live theirs,” Rosen said.
News4JAX contacted Jacksonville Powersports Inc. regarding the lawsuit and received a response via phone. A worker said this is an “unfortunate situation but cannot comment on the situation.”
News4JAX also reached out to Bombardier Recreational Products and sent the following statement:
“Our Sea-Doo Switch watercrafts comply with all ABYC and U.S. Coast Guard regulations regarding flotation tests and weight capacity. Having said that, BRP takes any incident involving its products very seriously. As for the unfortunate case you are referring to, we are currently investigating the incident as part of an ongoing legal process, so we will not be commenting further.”
Watch the full conference below:
