Alex Botelho Suing WSL Over Nazare Contest

[Chee-to]

From the very low-difficulty step of reading the actual complaint, I learned that he is alleging the following:

The competitors did not accept the original safety plan.
In response, the WSL told the competitors there was a new safety plan, but actively lied to the competitors about what safety measures would be in place.
He was injured during the contest.
If the safety measures the WSL had promised were actually in place, he would have been significantly less injured.

I have no idea whether any of this is true, but it's what his complaint alleges.

This case is probably not going to be decided based on whether the representations about safety measures were made in the first place, as he claims they have those in writing. It will probably come down to assumption of risk/duty of care on the negligence cause of action and reasonable reliance on the fraud causes of action. JKB hit the nail on the head: if he went out knowing the safety measures were not in place as promised, he will have a very difficult time proving he reasonably relied on the misrepresentation as a cause of his injury. He could probably recover his costs of getting to Portugal and other similar upfront losses because he was still relying on the misrepresentation at that point, but his injury claim requires his reliance on the broken promise at the time of the injury itself.

 

[casa_mugrienta]

So did they force this guy to go out against his will?

Or did he go out on his own accord knowing the safety provisions were not in place?

The suit alleges he went out under assumption at least some of the provisions were in place:

"Despite genuine concerns about safety, plaintiff and other competitors felt obliged to sign the agreement with the WSL, including the waiver form. At the time of signing on the eve of the competition, plaintiff was still unaware of the absence of several aspects of the agreed safety measures, including the lack of any rescue swimmer, and still expected Kalani Lattanzi to be present to act in such capacity as agreed."

Really, read the meat of the suit. It's worth it.

Regardless of validity of his lawsuit - if the accusations of bait and switch are true - there are some really shitty people running stuff at the WSL. According to the suit basically all the competitors objected to the initial safety provisions as being inadequate, the WSL said they would implement a safety program the competitors deemed sufficient, and then at the very last minute before the contest told the competitors they weren't able to meet some of the requirements. Multiple competitors then objected and were basically told get fcked. Looks like the WSL never even attempted to implement some of the main points of the agreement, just strung them along planning to pull the rug at the last minute.

If that's the case it's pretty ruthless.

 

[bonzer5fin]

So did they force this guy to go out against his will?

Or did he go out on his own accord knowing the safety provisions were not in place?

THIS. if they all knew the measures were not in place, then a boycott should have happened. imagine if NO ONE would go out. all of the media was there. would have been a good time to pull the covers on the wsl, but no, they go out and almost drown. this makes me think the guy didn't have the balls to stand up to the wsl before, but now does. i find that odd.

 

[casa_mugrienta]

this makes me think the guy didn't have the balls to stand up to the wsl before, but now does. i find that odd.

It's not really odd, it's an often used manipulation tactic of pressuring someone last minute.

WSL is alleged to have promised one thing, then at the very last minute said they weren't going to be able to deliver. All the while alleged to never have had any intention to deliver on their promise.

The WSL knew these guys had put in months of training, financial resources (personal, sponsorship, $ donated by friends/family/organzations), logistics, etc for the event.

Backing out would have been easy days prior, but at the last minute, with all of the aforementioned work and money and planning being flushed down the toilet at the very last minute...not so much.

Courts generally do not look highly upon this sort of practice.

 

[Duffy LaCoronilla]

According to the suit the original safety plan was "deemed unsatisfactory by virtually every surfer invited to participate in the event".

According to the suit this stuff was explicitly worked out via email and further these safety provisions were stated in the WSL Information Kit distributed to competitors.

The suit is worth a read. Actually quite interesting.

Is this the first time you’ve read a plaintiff’s lawsuit? Lawsuits claim all sorts of things. Looking at someone’s filing and then saying the defendant did xxxx because that what’s in the filing is a bit naive at best.

 

[casa_mugrienta]

Is this the first time you’ve read a plaintiff’s lawsuit? Lawsuits claim all sorts of things. Looking at someone’s filing and then saying the defendant did xxxx because that what’s in the filing is a bit naive at best.

lol

Are you reading before you post? Do you see how I repeatedly keep stating “According to the lawsuit” and “alleged”?

There’s a reason for that.

 

[r32]

scrolling up to read what's already been posted multiple times is for losers.