Malibu Boat Capacity Lawsuits: Open Bow Seating Not Tested?

A proposed class action lawsuit claims certain Malibu boats have a dangerous design defect that causes them to be susceptible to bow swamping—and attorneys working with ClassAction.org now need more boat owners to come forward to help strengthen the case.

In July 2023, Malibu Boats issued a safety alert warning that certain models could be affected by a “bow seating hazard” due to their design. The alert referenced a fatal accident during which a passenger was swept out of the bow seating area of a Malibu Response LX boat during a swamping incident—i.e., when water comes over the front of the boat. Malibu Boats said it had determined that the Response LX and “similar models” could be “particularly susceptible” to bow swamping and that passengers should no longer ride in the bow area, effectively reducing each boat’s capacity by two passengers.

The lawsuit claims Malibu Boats should have known the affected boats were defectively designed and that their open bow seating was dangerous. According to the case, consumers overpaid for the boats at issue given they cannot be safely used at their advertised seating capacity.

Wrongful Death Lawsuit Claims Open Bow Seating Not Tested

The proposed class action lawsuit against Malibu Boats claims the ski boat manufacturer only issued the safety alert to customers regarding the bow swamping risk after a loss at trial in a lawsuit filed over the wrongful death of a seven-year-old boy who was swept from the bow seating in a 2000 Response LX and was struck by the boat’s propeller.

After the 11-day trial in August 2021, a Georgia jury awarded $200 million to the boy’s family, finding Malibu liable for failing to warn of a safety hazard posed by the design of its 2000 Response LX.

The judge overseeing the wrongful death lawsuit stated in a post-trial order that there was “overwhelming evidence” of a safety defect in the boat at issue, which was intentionally designed to have a low-slung bow, i.e., a bow that is close to the water, that angles downward.

“Malibu chose this design for aesthetic reasons, but did not warn users about the safety implications of its design choice,” the judge wrote, stating that “[c]ompelling evidence” established that the ski boat manufacturer knew about the life-threatening safety risk and consciously chose on several occasions not to issue a warning.

According to evidence presented at trial, Malibu developed the Response LX in the mid-1990s by adding open bow seating to its existing Response model, apparently to avoid losing market share to competitors that had begun offering ski boats with seating in the bow.  Yet, instead of making design changes to accommodate for additional weight in the bow, Malibu simply “cut a hole in the closed forward deck of the bow of the boat, installed seats, and then … sold [the new model] to its customers,” court documents state.

In fact, according to the post-trial order, evidence showed that Malibu never consulted with any engineers while designing the Response LX and “did not do any formal, documented safety testing” of the open bow seating model. After the boat was released, the order says, Malibu ignored warnings and concerns from customers, its Australian distributor and its own employees about the risk of bow swamping in the Response LX and similar models—which were apparently unable to “cross [their] own wake without shifting water aboard.”

It wasn’t until 2011—after a jury issued a verdict against a competitor for an incident involving bow swamping—that Malibu began adding a bow weight limit warning to its ski boats, according to the suit. However, the manufacturer “deliberately chose” to only add the warning to new boats and not inform the owners of boats that had already been sold, “despite actively knowing that every Response LX ever made had an identical swamping defect” and knowing “exactly how serious this hazard was,” the order states.

Per the case, the incident with the 2000 Response LX used by the family in Georgia occurred in the summer of 2014, several years after Malibu made the decision not to send bow swamping warning labels to its customers.

Malibu’s safety alert issued in July 2023 states that the Response LX and “similar models” may be “particularly susceptible” to bow swamping accidents due to “a combination of design factors.” Malibu said in the notice that it would provide updated capacity labels and warning stickers reflecting its new safety policy prohibiting passengers from riding in the affected boats’ bow areas while in motion.

How Could a Class Action Lawsuit Help?

A class action lawsuit could help consumers get back some of the money they spent on their Malibu boats or to address the potential design defect in the affected models.

What You Can Do

After you get in touch, an attorney or legal representative may reach out to you directly to tell you more about how you may be able to help strengthen the case against Malibu. It costs nothing to fill out the form or speak with someone, and you’re not obligated to take legal action if you don’t want to.

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