$250M Lawsuit Against Mike Lynch's Widow Withdrawn After Criticism from Manufacturer in Yacht Sinking Tragedy
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09/25/2024 05:20 PM
In a statement obtained by PEOPLE, The Italian Sea Group (TISG) said that lawyers who filed the lawsuit were instructed to withdraw it one day later
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Mike Lynch, former chief executive officer of Autonomy Corp departs the Rolls Building on June 27, 2019A $250 million lawsuit filed against British tech mogul Mike Lynch's widow and crew members of the Bayesian yacht, which sank off the coast of Sicily in August, killing seven people, has been withdrawn following complaints by the vessel's maker, which says it never authorized the legal action.
In a statement obtained by PEOPLE, The Italian Sea Group (TISG) said that lawyers who filed the lawsuit on Friday, Sept. 20, were instructed to withdraw it one day later. The lawyers involved in the filing have been fired, as well, a source close to the legal proceedings tells PEOPLE.
This came just days after Italian publicationLa Nazionereported that Tommaso Bertuccelli, a lawyer representing TISG, filed a €222 million (about $247.8 million) lawsuit, claiming Lynch's widow, Angela Bacares, and the crew had damaged the reputation of the company, which had lost business as a result of the tragedy, according to Fortune.
In a statement obtained by PEOPLE, TISG said they "strongly refute" the La Nazione report and claimed they did not authorize lawyers to submit the filing.
The source tells PEOPLE the lawsuit was withdrawn at the request of TISG, whose management claimed they had "no involvement in the lawsuit filed in a Sicilian court last week in their name."
"They were among the last to learn about the case, which made global headlines after being covered by local media," the source adds.
According to TISG, all documents related to the summons "have already been physically withdrawn, effectively nullifying the legal action that had been the subject of recent media coverage."
"While TISG did give a general mandate to the lawyers mentioned in the article, no legal representative of the company has examined, signed, or authorized any writ of summons," they added. "The company firmly distances itself from the published information and reserves the right to protect its interests through all available legal channels."
Bacares was one of four people named in the lawsuit, La Nazione reported.
Also reportedly named in the lawsuit were Captain James Cutfield, two additional crew members, Camper & Nicholsons, the company responsible for hiring the boat's crew, and Revtom, a company controlled by Bacares, which owned the Bayesian.
Giovanni Costantino, CEO of TISG, previously speculated that he believed the sinking resulted from an "endless chain of errors" by the crew, according to CNN.
Speaking with Sky News that same week, Costantino called the company's ships "unsinkable" and "the safest in the most absolute sense."
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The 183-foot British vessel sank around 5 a.m. local time on Monday after a "violent storm" while near Porticello, the Italian coast guard said in a statement that was previously obtained by PEOPLE.
Many details of why the yacht went into the water so quickly remain unclear and it's not yet known what the passengers and crew were doing before tragedy struck.
Related: Mike Lynch's Friend Shares What Life Was Like Onboard Yacht Before It Sank: 'Truly Luxurious Cabins'
News of the withdrawn lawsuit came less than a month after the news that Bacares could be liable for damages being sought by Hewlett Packard Enterprises, which confirmed that the company will continue to pursue damages of up to $4 billion from Lynch's estate.
According to a statement from the company previously obtained by PEOPLE, Britain's High Court ruled in 2022 that HPE "had substantially succeeded in its civil fraud claims" against Lynch and Sushovan Hussain after they sold Autonomy, a company founded by Lynch, in 2011 for $11 billion.
Lynch was later acquitted in a separate U.S. trial related to the sale. He and others, including one of the lawyers who worked on the case, Christopher Morvillo, were apparently celebrating the acquittal on the superyacht that capsized shortly before it sank.
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