Family of woman who died in Boston Harbor crash sues owners of both the crashed boat and boat they say hit her while she was in the water

The family of Jeanica Julce of Somerville, who drowned in Boston Harbor in 2021 after the speed boat she was a passenger on hit a large, permanent navigational beacon off Spectacle Island, yesterday sued both Ryan Denver, the owner and captain of the Make It Go Away, and the operator of another boat the family charges struck Julce before speeding from the scene.

The second operator, who, unlike Denver is not facing criminal charges for Julce's death, today denied he had struck the woman and, through his lawyer, said he actually helped look for her before leaving to avoid complicating the search by the Coast Guard and local police and firefighters.

The Julce family had been barred from filing a wrongful-death suit until last month, when a federal judge, hearing a case involving how much Denver might have to pay for his liability for the crash under federal maritime law, rescinded a stay she had placed on any state lawsuits related to the case. In addition to Julce, several of the other six passengers on board that morning have claimed serious injuries.

Meanwhile, Suffolk Superior Court Judge Robert Ullman has set trial for Feb. 25 of next year on five criminal charges of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon causing serious bodily injury and one criminal charge of involuntary manslaughter brought against Denver by the Suffolk County District Attorney's office.

However, prosecutors may be hobbled in a key part of their case because the judge has ruled they cannot use evidence from any black boxes or other devices that might bolster their assertion that Denver was going way too fast around July 17, 2021, when his boat slammed into Daymarker 5, that, in fact, they should be barred from even asserting at all that Denver was speeding.

The remains of the boat were being stored at a MassDOT dry dock in Cohasset on March 16, 2022, when State Police decided to shrink wrap it to protect it, but instead managed to set the boat on fire while using a propane torch to shrink the wrap, completely destroying both it and electronic equipment still on board. Prosecutors had hoped to use data from the devices to prove Denver was powering his boat more than twice as fast as he should have - but Denver's team could not examine the boat and the data after the fire. Also, it turned out that some data-recording equipment that should have been removed from the boat right after it was removed from the water wasn't, so it was exposed to the elements and essentially destroyed even before the fire.

Ullman ruled that while the damage was not intentional, this "carelessness that was negligent or grossly negligent and inadvertence" deprived Denver and his defense team of evidence that might help exonerate him on the speeding question. But rather than throwing out the entire case - in which prosecutors planned to present other evidence not related to speeding - Ullman ruled the answer was to go to trial, but not let prosecutors allege that Denver was going too fast.

In their lawsuit, filed in Suffolk Superior Court, Julce's estate, headed by her father, Wilfred, is claiming at least $15 million in damages for her death - against both Denver and Lee Rosenthal of Beverly, whom both he and Denver had previously charge broke his maritime-law responsibility to aid the people in the water when he came upon them. The Julce lawsuit goes even further and alleges that Rosenthal, in fact, steered right into Julce as she struggled in the water and then sped away.

The complaint first lays out the case against Denver:

Upon information and belief, Defendant Ryan Denver consumed alcohol in the Seaport that evening, then piloted the "Make It Go Away" to Marina Bay in Quincy, where he consumed more alcohol. Defendant Ryan Denver was piloting the "Make It Go Away" back to the Seaport from Quincy when his vessel struck Daymarker #5.

Defendant Ryan Denver was operating his vessel at an unsafe speed when he struck Daymarker #5.

Defendant Ryan Denver failed to maintain a proper lookout when he struck Daymarker #5.

Defendant Ryan Denver failed to use and heed his navigational instruments on the "Make It Go Away" when he struck Daymarker #5.

When the "Make It Go Away" struck Daymarker #5, the vessel capsized and all eight (8) people on board went into the water, including Jeanica Julce.

With respect to this incident and the operation of the "Make It Go Away," Jeanica Julce was in no way operating the vessel or under the direction of the Defendant, Ryan Denver, and had no duties or responsibilities with respect to the operation of the vessel; simply stated, Jeanica Julce was a passenger on a vessel being solely operated at the time of the incident by the Defendant, Ryan Denver.

At all material times hereto, and especially during the voyage of the "Make It Go Away" in Boston Harbor as described above, the care and safety of the passengers on the vessel was the responsibility and duty of the Defendant, Ryan Denver.

The complaint continues that the captain of a nearby tugboat saw the aftermath and made a distress call to local harbor authorities - but was unable to help himself because his craft had too deep a draft for the shallower water where they were, near Daymarker 5. The marker is there to warn off larger ships from the shallower waters of Dorchester Bay.

The complaint then turns to the alleged actions of Rosenthal, helming a family boat called Defensive Indifference, who got to the crash, or "allision" scene, before any rescue ships:

Upon arrival at the scene, the Coast Guard noted, "[t]here is a vessel on scene doing laps around the capsized vessel and a person is swimming towards it. The vessel takes off without retrieving anyone from the water." That vessel was the "Defensive Indifference," operated by Defendant Lee Rosenthal.

Upon information and belief, the "Defensive Indifference," struck Jeanica Julce as Defendant Lee Rosenthal was circling the area and/or leaving the area.

Eventually, seven (7) of the people on board the "Make It Go Away" were rescued from the waters of Boston Harbor.

Jeanica Julce was never rescued, and she died in the waters of Boston Harbor that night.

After an extensive search, Jeanica Julce's body was recovered from the bottom of Boston Harbor by divers with the Boston Fire Department. It was noted when her body was located that, initially, identification of the body could not be made because the body needed to be placed in multiple body bags and the Medical Examiner needed to reassemble the body to make an identification.

But for Defendant Lee Rosenthal's negligence, gross negligence, and/or recklessness occurring during the time Jeanica Julce was in the waters of Boston Harbor, Jeanica Julce would not have died on July 17, 2021.

The complaint concludes by blaming both boat operators for Julce's death:

Defendant Lee Rosenthal knew or should have known of the dangers created by his negligence, gross negligence, and/or recklessness.

But for Defendant Ryan Denver's negligence, gross negligence, and/or recklessness, which caused Jeanica Julce to enter the waters of Boston Harbor, Jeanica Julce would not have died on July 17, 2021.

Defendant Ryan Denver knew or should have known of the dangers created by his negligence, gross negligence, and/or recklessness.

Jeanica Julce suffered consciously before she died and died a premature death.

In a statement today, Rosenthal's lawyer denied the "false accusation" that his client in any way contributed to Julce's death:

The filing includes a false accusation regarding Mr. Rosenthal who was found to have no responsibility or involvement by police detectives and rescue personnel who investigated the fatal accident. The at-fault party was charged. The authorities confirmed in the investigation that an individual in the water who was not the victim asked Mr. Rosenthal to look for the young woman, which he did. According to the official police reconstruction, Mr. Rosenthal then "transited away to not interfere with the rescue" as police and fire boats arrived.

Throughout the long legal process, Denver - who has brought his own action against Rosenthal - has repeatedly asserted his complete innocence.

He has argued that whatever happened to Julce and his other passengers was their own fault, through drinking or drugs or anything he had nothing to do with.

And he has suggested that the navigational marker, affixed to the bottom of the harbor and rising some 40 feet above it, must have moved, because he didn't hit it on the way out from the Seaport and he followed the same exact navigational path he took outbound to return inbound. He has also blamed bright lights from two barges doing dredging that night for making the marker impossible to see.

In addition to all the charges and counter charges involving Denver, Rosenthal and the passengers on the Make It Go Away, the Coast Guard wants Denver to pay the $300,000 it says it cost to repair the damage Denver did to the daymarker.

The ruling that allowed the Julce family to sue came in the first legal action filed involving the case - a demand by Denver that his total financial liability be limited to $50,000, the value of what was then left of his boat, before it went up in flames at a marina.

Denver made the demand under an 1851 law designed to protect ship owners from claims involving pirate attacks or bad storms by limiting their liability to the value of whatever was left of their ships, not any of the cargo or people they were carrying.

Julce's family and the survivors who have gone after Denver say that law only applies to ship owners not actually on their ships, and Denver was captaining his boat right up until the moment it hit the daymarker. Also, he's excluded by the "homeport doctrine," which excludes ships being piloted in their local port - in this case, Boston Harbor, since Denver lives and berthed his boat in the Seaport.

The Coast Guard, meanwhile, says its demand is exempted from that law by another maritime law related to harbors and fixed equipment in them, such as permanent navigational markers.

Complete complaint in Julce lawsuit (133k PDF).
Motion in federal case that includes copy of state-court ruling on the boat going up in flames (3.7M PDF).
Federal judge's ruling allowing state suits (259k PDF).