Why was Florida captain’s fatal boat crash pact kept secret, but his wife’s was not?

Nov 06, 2024

The $16 million settlement ordered late last month in the tragic 2022 Labor Day weekend boat crash that ended the life of Our Lady of Lourdes senior Luciana Fernandez and left her classmate, soccer star Katerina Puig, needing a lifetime of medical care, is just one chapter in the ongoing legal battles surrounding prominent South Florida real estate broker George Pino — the man at the vessel’s helm.

That judgment, against Pino’s wife, Cecilia Pino, came three months after George Pino reached a confidential settlement with the Puig family for an undisclosed amount of money that will be used to fund a medical trust for Katerina.

But the April 25 order by Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Migna Sanchez-Llorens, which enforced a settlement reached between Cecilia Pino and Katerina’s parents Kathya and Rodolpho Puig, opened questions about why George Pino’s settlement is confidential, but his wife’s is not. And, also, why the couple was sued individually.

Cecilia Pino’s attorneys sought to keep her settlement sealed for 10 years, but the Puigs objected. Sanchez-Llorens ruled in the Puigs’ favor on April 26. Part of her argument was that the continued press coverage in the Miami Herald and other outlets was having a negative impact on State Street Realty, the company her husband operates and where she works.

Both Andrew Mescolotto, the attorney for the Pinos, and Ivan Cabrera, the Puigs’ attorney, declined to discuss the case.

Several personal injury attorneys told the Miami Herald that the way the civil case has played out is not unusual.

Ira Leesfield, a Miami attorney specializing in maritime law, explained that the parties likely agreed out of court to keep the monetary value of George Pino’s settlement confidential, but didn’t agree to do the same with Cecilia’s case.

And, if there is a disagreement, the judge is likely going to deny sealing the details of the settlement, Leesfield said.

“The judges don’t care if you want it confidential,” Leesfield said. “If one party [wants the agreement not to be confidential], they’re going to do it.”

Stuart Grossman, the head of a major South Florida personal injury law firm for decades, said the reasons for wanting to keep settlements out of the public eye vary.

“It depends on the appetite, usually of the plaintiff. Some people are very sensitive about their friends and neighbors and work colleagues open to the possibility that they are worth millions,” Grossman said. “Also, it depends on the appetite of the defendant not wanting it known he was able to pay millions of dollars out of pocket.”

“Either party can invoke this. Oftentimes it’s made a condition of one party,” Grossman said.

George Pino was behind the wheel of a 29-foot Robolo twin 300-horsepower engine center console boat on Sept. 4, 2022, returning from celebrating his daughter’s 18th birthday on Elliott Key. He was with his wife, daughter and 11 of her teenage friends — including Luciana Fernandez and Katerina Puig — heading back to the couple’s vacation home at the exclusive Ocean Reef Club gated community when he rammed into a fixed channel marker near Cutter Bank in the Intracoastal Waterway.

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He was going about 50 mph, which is a high rate of speed on the water, when the vessel hit the Biscayne Bay channel marker, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, the lead investigating agency in the case. All 14 people on board were ejected into the water. Several were injured — Katerina and Luciana critically. Luciana died the next day in the hospital. Katerina suffered blunt-force trauma to her head and is permanently disabled.

Despite more than 60 empty booze containers found on the boat when investigators hauled it out of the water, and George Pino telling an FWC officer he “had two beers,” cops almost immediately ruled out alcohol as a factor in the crash, a conclusion echoed in the final criminal complaint. Instead, the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office, going by the final FWC report, charged Pino with three counts of misdemeanor careless boating last August.

George Pino has pleaded not guilty, and the criminal case is pending.

Both the Puig and Fernadez families were outraged at the minor charges filed. The Fernandezes, in several statements provided to the Miami Herald since Pino was charged, pointed out that he told investigators that a contributing factor to the crash was the wake thrown by a larger boat that was coming the opposite direction in the channel moments before he hit the marker.

No one else on the Robolo, nor anyone on any of the other vessels in the area that day, saw that boat, according to the FWC’s final report.

Andres and Melissa Fernandez, Luciana’s parents, have not filed any lawsuits in the aftermath of their daughter’s death, but remain highly critical of the handling of the investigation by the FWC and State Attorney’s Office.

The family has since created a nonprofit in their daughter’s name, the Lucy Fernandez Foundation, dedicated to boating safety and providing scholarships to Our Lady of Lourdes Academy.

The Puigs filed their lawsuit against George and Cecilia Pino in March 2023. Although George Pino was operating the boat the day of the crash and the boat’s title is only in his name, both Pinos are named separately in the lawsuit.

Specifically, George Pino was sued for negligence and negligent supervision, and Cecilia was sued for negligent supervision.

Among the list of accusations in the lawsuit is that both Pinos bought alcohol that day and allowed all of the girls on the boat to drink.

The arguments in that civil case are reiterated in yet another lawsuit that has resulted from the crash — one filed in Dade court by Hudson Excess Insurance Company in February. Hudson is the company with which George Pino had a $500,000 excess insurance policy on his boat.

The company’s lawsuit against Pino and the Puigs argues it is not obliged to pay out the $500,000 policy.

Unlike the out-of-court settlement with George Pino, his wife agreed to a consent agreement to pay the $16 million. Sanchez-Llorens then issued her judgment requiring the payment.

“It’s like going to trial, but skipping the trial,” Miami trial lawyer Judd Rosen said. “If we went to trial, the likely outcome would be $16 million.”

Rosen said he believes the Puigs and Cecilia Pino, who share the same attorney in the case, may be working together to fight back against Hudson for denying the coverage. He suggested the $16 million agreement and judgment allowed both parties to pursue a bad-faith action against the insurance company.

Rosen also said it’s typical in personal injury lawsuits to go after all involved individually, so it’s not unusual that the outcomes differed for George and Cecilia Pino.

“Technically, it’s two different cases. Two Different parties. Two different defendants,” he said.