Victims injured in Smith Lake boating crash plan to file lawsuit

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WIAT) -- The families of two men seriously injured in a crash involving two boats on Smith Lake during a Major League Fishing tournament have retained legal counsel.

Friday afternoon we sat down with Ken Riley, of Farris, Riley and Pitt. He said that they plan to file a lawsuit next week on behalf of Gary Holcombe and Luke Morgan. He said both men were seriously injured in Wednesday’s crash on Smith Lake.

According to ALEA, Flint Davis of Leesburg, Georgia was driving a Nitro Bass boat that struck a center console boat with five people on board at 7:03 Wednesday morning. Three people on that boat were killed, and two were injured, including the operator of the boat, 51-year-old Gary Holcombe of Cullman and passenger 30-year old Luke Morgan of Albertville. According to ALEA, 22-year old Flint Davis was also injured.

A statement released on Friday afternoon by Farris, Riley & Pitt reads in part:

“We are investigating the events that led to this collision with local and state authorities to learn what happened and to preserve critical evidence.”

Partner Ken Riley said they do plan to file a lawsuit next week:

“Based on our own investigation, and we’ve conducted an investigation of our own, an independent investigation, we believe that there’s definitely negligence and we intend to hold those who are responsible accountable.”

Riley said this is about more than money:

“What we want to see come out of this is obviously we want our clients compensated, but we also want to create a scenario where this doesn’t happen again, and the way you do that is to effectuate change.”

He added that they have to make sure that Alabama provides a safe place for tournaments to operate:

“Not just for the people who are in the tournaments, but also the people who are using the waterways who have every right to use the waterways.”

We have reached out to the attorney for the driver of the boat, Flint Davis. His attorney Joe Durham provided us with a statement which reads:

“This is a tragic situation for everyone involved, until more details are known, we are not making any further comment.”

We also reached out to Major League Fishing Friday afternoon. They sent us a statement which reads:

“This is a heartbreaking moment for our entire organization. Our deepest condolences go out to the families and friends of those affected by this tragedy.

We are working closely with law enforcement and emergency officials.

As this is a pending legal matter, we will have no comment beyond that at this time.”

ALEA’s Marine Patrol division continues to investigate the crash. The three men who were killed as a result of the crash on Wednesday were 58-year old Joey Broom, 44-year old Kelly Clark, and 62-year old Jeffrey Little.