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Defunct boat company owes $4M to customers
The issue has been in the court system for several years.
WARREN — A defunct local sporting company has been ordered to pay previous customers and financial institutions more than $4 million for boats ordered but not delivered.
A decision was rendered in the civil suit between National Marine Inc. and a list of previous customers. According to court papers, National Marine, as late as 2003, was operating as a business selling high-performance boats.
The case was heard before Judge Andrew D. Logan of Trumbull County Common Pleas Court.
Court records show that problems began to surface regarding business practices at National Marine in 2004. The company was placed in receivership in that same year, ultimately leading to the court decision last week.
Home Savings and Loan of Youngstown and Second National Bank, according to court documents, were responsible for financing several of the high-priced performance boats. Problems arose for the financial institutions when boats financed by the lenders were not delivered.
Court documents list four customers financed by Home Savings between 2003 and 2004 who never received boats paid for by the lending institution. Home Savings made claims against the defunct company totaling $1,265,661 on behalf of the four borrowers for the four boats that were not delivered.
Thirteen additional customers filed suit against the company for high-priced boats that were either not delivered, delivered with damages or delivered without titles, making it impossible to use the boat legally.
Those customers sued the company for breach of contract, Ohio Consumer Sales Practices Act violations, breach of good faith, breach of fiduciary duty, bailment, negligence and The Truth In Lending Act violations.
Several of the claims were either withdrawn or dismissed without prejudice over the course of the four-year court battle, but those remaining in the court were to get separate awards totaling more than $2,765,000.
jgoodwin@vindy.com