$1-Million Lawsuit Filed in Sinking of Fishing Boat

A San Diego fisherman filed a $1-million lawsuit that in part accuses a retired businessman of owning the yacht that allegedly caused his fishing boat to capsize in San Diego Bay last fall, killing his skipper and allegedly leaving him psychologically scarred.

Gordon Lacy, a 71-year-old Point Loma resident, was accused of negligently managing and operating the yacht that allegedly sped past the fishing boat Sept. 11., creating a large wake that capsized the boat.

The fisherman, Benito Storniolo, was able to swim away from the boat, but his skipper, Thomas Corona, 64, was trapped underneath and drowned. The 35-foot Chaser, returning from a fishing trip, sank south of Sherlter Island.

Witnesses corroborated Storniolo’s account of the accident, which is still under investigation, but were unable to provide a description of the speeding boat other than that it was a white cabin cruiser traveling about 25 m.p.h.

Another witness, who wished not to be identified, called Storniolo a couple weeks later and told him the name on the yacht was the “Lea Sea” and was owned by Lacy, said Frank De Santis, Storniolo’s attorney.

According to Lacy’s attorney, Paul Weil, Lacy’s yacht is called the “Lei-Sea,” and was not designed to travel at 25 m.p.h.

Upon learning of the lawsuit, Lacy’s “reaction was one of surprise and shock,” Weil said. “It would have been physically impossible for his boat to have done what it was claimed to have done.”

Harbor Police interviewed Lacy after the accident, and inspected his boat, Weil said. Other yachts in the area after the accident were also interviewed, and port authorities have not contacted Lacy since.

Weil said he has not been contacted by De Santis, and neither he nor his client has seen the lawsuit.

Lacy moved to San Diego with a manufacturing business in the 1960s, Weil said, adding that although he is well off financially, he is by no means wealthy.

Storniolo is also suing the estate of dead skipper, Corona, allegeding that he failed to maintain boat, the Chaser, in seaworthy condition.

The lawsuit is seeking more than $500,000 in compensatory from both Lacy and Corona’s estate. The suit also seeks at least $500,000 in punitive damages from the late skipper’s estate, said De Santis.

“The most severe injuries are the psychological ones,” De Santis said. “Basically, he relives over and over the whole incident of seeing his friend drowned and being unable to help him.”

The results of the Harbor Police investigation are at the district attorney’s office, which is reviewing the case to determine if any criminal charges should be pressed, said district attorney’s office spokeswoman Linda Miller. A decision will not be made until the Coast Guard submits the results of it’s investigation into the cause of the accident.

Miller would not confirm whether Lacy was a suspect in the case, or whether there were any suspects.

De Santis complained that the Harbor Police and Coast Guard would not release names of witnesses to the accident, forcing him to file subpoenas for the information.

“We’ve been pretty much in the dark and we have very little to go on,” De Santis said.

Members of Corona’s family and their lawyer could not be reached.