U.S. Must Pay Damages for 3 Killed in Storm

A federal judge today ordered the government to pay $1.2 million to the families of three lobstermen who were lost at sea after the National Weather Service failed to predict a fierce storm.

The relatives had asked U.S. District Judge Joseph L. Tauro to award them $3.2 million after he ruled that the agency was liable because it failed to repair a broken weather buoy that could have helped predict the storm.

Gary Brown, 25, of Plymouth; William Garnos, 30, of Beverly; David Berry, 20, of Marblehead, and Robert Thayer, 22, of Hamilton died Nov. 22, 1980, the day after they set out in fair weather from Cape Cod for a week of lobstering on Georges Bank, a rich fishing area 100 miles off Massachusetts.

Surprised by Storm

According to testimony, the men were surprised by a storm that produced 60-foot waves and 100-m.p.h. winds. Garnos, Berry and Thayer disappeared when their boat sank. Less than two hours later, Brown was swept overboard while trying to steer his craft.

Honour Brown Ferris, who has remarried since the death of her husband, Gary Brown, and the relatives of two of the other fishermen sought the money from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the weather service’s parent agency, for lost wages and pain and suffering. Thayer’s death is not part of the suit.