The family of a young boy who died in a Sea-Doo collision in 2020 has filed a lawsuit against the Sublimity dealer who sold the watercraft.
On July 20, a $9.5 million suit was filed in Marion County Circuit Court against Power Motorsports for a fatal collision that killed Zachary James Maynard, 6, of Sweet Home.
Also named as defendants are Sea-Doo manufacturer Bombardier Recreational Products Inc., based in Canada, and distributor Powersport Services NW, of Salem.
Maynard was seriously injured by an out-of-control Sea-Doo July 20, 2020, at Foster Reservoir in Sweet Home. He died three days later. Plaintiffs claim this was the result of a poorly-designed handlebar throttle and argue defendants negligently shipped and sold an unsafe product.
Defendants have denied liability and claim fellow defendants were at fault, as well as Sea-Doo purchaser Marco Gonzales and his son Antonio Cassanova-Gonzalez, who was operating the craft before the collision.
Gonzales and Cassanova-Gonzalez, both of Salem, were found liable this spring in a similar lawsuit filed last year in Marion County involving the same plaintiffs and defendants. Neither man responded to a summons and were separately found in default in April and May, while claims against remaining defendants are pending.
Unlike typical findings of liability, neither Gonzales nor Cassanova-Gonzalez were named as defendants in the 2022 lawsuit, nor was Powersport Services NW. They were included in the suit at the request of named defendants Power Motorsports and Bombardier, who claimed these third parties were actually at fault. In the July 20 filing, Maynard’s family added Powersport Services NW as a named defendant. They are not seeking damages from Gonzales and Cassanova-Gonzalez. A status check hearing is set for both lawsuits Sept. 7.
