Don’t rock the boat

A yacht broker incorrectly marketed a yacht as having zero speed stabilisers, which it in fact did not have. The owners of the yacht brought a claim against the broker alleging that this misdescription in the run up to the summer season had cost them lost chartering income of EUR 500,000.

ITIC analysed the claim from the owners and realised that only one single week’s lost charter had resulted from this error. The yacht brokers had been able to find charters that season regardless of the misdescription. Furthermore, owners had not complied with the broker’s request to keep the yacht fully available for charter, instead putting it into the yard for repair work during this period.

Faced with these arguments, the yacht owner reduced his claim to EUR 30,000. ITIC continued to assist the yacht broker in rejecting the claim from the yacht owner, until the yacht owner decided to withdraw his claim.