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Article Courtesy of The
Miami Herald
By Jose Lambiet
Published May 14, 2018
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Eight months after Hurricane Irma, the entity that governs Fisher Island,
America’s richest ZIP Code, is involved in some post-storm drama.
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The Fisher Island Community Association
just got sued by Miami Beach homeowner Carlos Alberto Leon
over damages allegedly caused by the association’s towing
boat during the September 2017 hurricane.
In his filing, Leon claims that the ship Toucan, which was
docked at the island, came loose during the hurricane and
started drifting north into the Intracoastal for a strangely
wild ride for a distance of more than two miles.
“It went under the MacArthur Causeway,” said Curt Obront,
Leon’s lawyer, “past the Miami Beach Marina, past Star
Island and straight into my client’s property. The boat
eventually came to rest on rocks underneath the Venetian
[Causeway].”
When the vessel, described in U.S. Coast Guard registries as
a 36 .8-foot barge, slammed into the sea wall of businessman
Leon’s property at 45 E. Rivo Alto Dr., on the Venetian
Causeway’s Rivo Alto Island, it allegedly took out his dock,
boat elevator and pilings, and dented the sea wall.
The case file doesn’t mention an amount of damages.
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Waves crash over a seawall at the mouth of the Miami
River from Biscayne Bay as Hurricane Irma passes by on Sept. 10.
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“Obviously, we believe Fisher Island had plenty of time to prepare and should’ve
taken the boat into the mangroves or up the Miami River,” Obront said. “That’s
what everybody else did. It wasn’t a good idea to leave it at Fisher Island,
ground zero in case of storm."
Said Brian Scarry, Fisher Island’s attorney: "It is the policy of the Fisher
Island Community Association to refrain from commenting on matters before the
court."
But in his response to the complaint, Scarry claims Leon, not the association,
failed to prepare appropriately for the storm. |
