Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley filed a petition in Taney County Circuit Court Friday urging the court to stop operations of Ripley Entertainment’s Ride the Ducks in Branson.
The Attorney General’s Office alleges violations of the Missouri Merchandising Practices Act, Missouri’s principal consumer-protection statute.
On July 19th, 17 people drowned while on a tour of Table Rock Lake when their duck boat sank during severe weather. The petition cites safety violations alleged to have occurred that day, including ignoring life jacket requirements and weather warnings.
The suit alleges the defendants have “been on notice for decades of ongoing safety hazards that posed a present and deadly danger to every person who boarded a duck boat. Defendants kept that information from passengers and made false promises, fraudulent statements, and misrepresentations to consumers that safety was a top priority when in actuality it was their own profits.”
Hawley says in a release this tragedy should not have happened. He says as Missouri’s top law enforcement officer, he is charged with protecting Missouri consumers. He says his hope is this lawsuit will ensure unsafe duck boats and companies who put profits ahead of safety will not continue to operate. Consumers have a reasonable expectation of safety and that was not met on July 19th.