Shipyard Disavows Lawyer Who Sued Owner's Widow in the Sinking of the 'Bayesian' Yacht

In August, the 2008 Bayesian sank in just 16 minutes during what was described as a "freak" waterspout that hit it while at anchor off the coast of Italy. The weather event happened in the middle of the night, and six of the seven people who lost their lives didn't even get the chance to get out of their cabins from below deck.

Among the victims were the superyacht's owner, British billionaire Mike Lynch, his daughter, and friends he had invited on a trip to celebrate his being cleared of fraud charges. An investigation is now underway to determine whether human error (like a simple act of failing to close the doors and hatches of the ship at nightfall) caused the tragedy and, if it did, if there's liability of manslaughter charges.

While this is happening, shipyard Perini Navi, which built the Bayesian, and parent company The Italian Sea Group (TISG) are braving their own, albeit figurative, storms. Since the story got out, amid initial reports that the ship's world-setting aluminum mast either broke in the wind or otherwise contributed to the sinking, the company stock went into freefall, and prospective business partners jumped ship.

Last Friday, a lawsuit was filed in Sicily on behalf of TISG against the owner's widow, the captain and two members of the crew, and the yacht management company, citing reputational damage. The lawsuit was seeking almost $250 million in damages, citing lost business as argument.

The lawsuit was withdrawn within hours of filing amid hard criticism against the shipyard. In a statement to the Daily Mail, TISG now makes it very clear that they did not authorize or as much as contemplate any kind of legal action at this moment in time.

TISG confirms that attorney Tommaso Bertuccelli, who filed the paperwork, had worked with the company for eight years and that he had been instructed to look into legal issues regarding the tragedy. That said, Bertuccelli acted "off his own back" in filing a lawsuit that he had not been commissioned to file, without approval from or even knowledge of the board. He's since been let go from his contract.

TISG maintains that any kind of legal action would have to wait for the official investigation to conclude, saying that what the "rogue" attorney had only been tasked to look into the case from a distance. That doesn't rule out future legal action, though.

The Bayesian was a 183-foot (56-meter) sailing yacht delivered as Salute and as the sailing yacht with the tallest aluminum mast in the world. Under Mike Lynch's ownership, it was renamed Bayesian and had been refitted as recently as 2020. Valued at some $58 million, it was the perfect combination of luxury and performance – and, according to Perini Navi, "unsinkable."