01-0421 BOSDORF V. SINNAMON

State: Florida

Court: Florida Third District Court

Docket No: 01-0421 BOSDORF V. SINNAMON

Case Date: 12/26/2001

Preview:NOT FINAL UNTIL TIME EXPIRES TO FILE REHEARING MOTION AND, IF FILED, DISPOSED OF. IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL OF FLORIDA THIRD DISTRICT JULY TERM, A.D. 2001 ANGELA BOSDORF, et al., Appellants, vs. HARRY CHARLES SINNAMON, et al., Appellees. ** Opinion filed December 26, 2001. An Appeal from the Circuit Court for Dade County, Thomas S. Wilson, Judge. Burd, Lozano & Zacherl and William G. Burd and Madelyn Simon Lozano; Sterns & Walker and Gerald C. Sterns and Brenda D. Pasada (Oakland, CA), for appellants. Hunton & Williams and Carl D. Gray (Norfolk, VA) and Laurie Uustal Mathews, for appellees. ** ** ** ** ** CASE NO. 3D01-421 LOWER TRIBUNAL NO. 98-11677

Before JORGENSON, GREEN, and RAMIREZ, JJ. JORGENSON, Judge. Angela Bosdorf, personal representative of the decedent's estate, appeals from an order of final summary judgment entered on the ground of res judicata in a wrongful death action. For the

following reasons, we reverse. The facts underlying this case are relatively straightforward. In May, 1996, in the waters off Cozumel, Mexico, Frank Bosdorf was killed after being struck by a boat when he surfaced from a scuba dive. Bosdorf, a citizen and resident of Germany, had been The vessel that struck him, the M/Y

vacationing in Mexico.

Miramar, is owned by J&L Enterprises, a North Carolina corporation. The president of J&L, Lamar Beach, is a resident of North Carolina. The vessel was captained by Harry Sinnamon, a resident of Florida. Judy Sinnamon, the captain's wife and also a resident of Florida, served as first mate. Safe Divers is a Florida business wholly

owned by Harry Sinnamon.1 The litigation that arose from this accident is complex; the decedent's estate filed four separate actions in four different courts. THE FOUR LAWSUITS I. On May 22, 1998, in the United States District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina plaintiffs filed their first suit against the owners and operators of the Miramar pursuant to the Death on the High Seas Act, 46 U.S.C. App.

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