LONG BEACH : $10.4 Million Awarded in Cameraman’s Fall

A yacht charter company has been slapped with a $10.4-million judgment in a federal lawsuit filed by a video cameraman who was paralyzed in fall from a boat as he taped a 1990 water skiing race in Long Beach Harbor.

U.S. District Judge Terry J. Hatter ordered Hornblower Yachts Co. to pay $9.3 million to Huntington Beach resident Winslow Lincoln and $1.1 million to his wife Melinda.

Lincoln and his wife had been taping the August, 1990, Long Beach-to-Catalina water skiing race from aboard a press boat supplied by the Hornblower, which offers charter boats and dining cruises out of Long Beach, Marina del Rey and Newport Beach.

Lincoln had set up his camera on top of the captain’s bridge, which did not have railings. He fell to the deck below when someone bumped into him, according to his attorney, Thomas J. Pierry Jr. Lincoln’s spinal cord was damaged, leaving him paralyzed below the waist.

After a non-jury trial, Hatter awarded Lincoln the $9.3 million to cover his future medical bills, loss of income and general damages. The judge ruled that his wife suffered emotional damage from witnessing the fall, and granted her the $1.1 million.

Hornblower attorney Donald Sands said the company plans to appeal.