Confidential Settlement Reached in Fatal Cottage Country Boat Crash Involving Kevin O'Leary
After six years of intense legal battles, the complex web of lawsuits and countersuits stemming from a tragic boat crash in Ontario's cottage country that involved celebrity investor Kevin O'Leary has finally reached a confidential settlement. The resolution brings closure to a case that began with a fatal collision on Lake Joseph in the summer of 2019.
Details Emerge Despite Confidentiality Agreement
While the settlement remains officially confidential, certain financial details have surfaced despite the agreement's secrecy provisions. The total payout from both boat operators involved in the collision to all fourteen claimants could not have exceeded a combined $2 million, with no single operator paying more than half of that amount.
Two of the claimants, both children seeking damages for the death of their mother, received $100,000 each, minus a $25,000 cut paid to their lawyers, not including taxes and fees. These amounts represent significantly less than the multi-million-dollar claims initially sought by several parties.
"Yeah, it's finished. Everything is in essence finished," said Rui Fernandes, lead lawyer representing Kevin O'Leary and his wife Linda O'Leary. "It's confidential, sorry. You're never going to find out because it's confidential, right?"
The Tragic Night on Lake Joseph
The incident occurred on a dark, moonless night in August 2019 when Kevin O'Leary was a passenger in a speedboat driven by his wife Linda. The couple were returning to their lakeside cottage from a neighbour's dinner party when their vessel collided with a larger pontoon boat carrying twelve people.
The pontoon boat, owned by Los Angeles physician Dr. Irv Edwards, was being driven by Dr. Richard Ruh, a doctor from Buffalo, New York, who rented a cottage from Edwards. The group had been stargazing after a different party when the collision occurred.
Tragically, two people lying at the front of the pontoon boat facing the sky were killed in the impact:
- Suzana Brito, 48, from Uxbridge, Ontario
- Gary Poltash, 64, of Florida
Three additional individuals sustained injuries in the collision that occurred near some of Canada's most luxurious vacation properties.
Criminal Proceedings and Civil Distinctions
Following the crash, police charged both boat drivers. Richard Ruh was charged with failing to exhibit a stern light on a power vessel underway and was convicted after not contesting the charge.
Linda O'Leary faced charges of operating a vessel in a careless manner and pleaded not guilty. After thirteen days of evidence presented at her 2021 trial, she was found not guilty. The presiding judge ruled that the larger pontoon boat had turned its lights off to facilitate stargazing and was stationary at the time of the collision, while the O'Leary boat had its navigation lights properly illuminated.
Kevin O'Leary served as the sole defence witness at his wife's trial, testifying that "That boat was invisible, and we went right into it. It was chaos. We didn't know what happened."
It's important to note that the criminal proceedings did not determine the outcome of the civil matters, as civil cases operate under different legal standards and procedures. The settlement now concludes all lawsuits, third-party claims, and notices of claim filed across multiple courts in the aftermath of the tragedy.
