Nov 14, 2026by: Curtis Hoff No Comments

USVI Reef-Wreck Lawsuit Against the Boy Scouts Is Settled – Loose Cannon

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USVI Reef-Wreck Lawsuit Against the Boy Scouts Is Settled

Inadequately Insured, Pearson 424 Was a Total Loss

Peter Swanson

Nov 13

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*Amokura* is well stuck after having gone aground on Johnson’s Reef on July 17, 2023.

In the category of better-late-than-never, a U.S. Virgin Island lawsuit against the Boy Scouts of America and a hired captain has been settled. The case involves a chartered Pearson 424 that was wrecked after one of the scouts on board allegedly ran her onto Johnson Reef in July 2023.

Named Amokura, the boat belonged to Libbie Oliver, who sued in USVI Superior Court, alleging that a captain recommended by the Scouts was to blame for the accident and that the organization failed to properly advise her about insurance.

Her insurance policy excluded reimbursement for reef damage and wreck removal.

The vessel remained stuck on the reef until a storm destroyed her in September 2023. Oliver asked the court to order the Boy Scouts to pay her for loss of the vessel, which she alleged happened when the captain stepped away and left one of the scouts at the helm.

The case is closed. It was settled over the summer after successful mediation. Any payments to the plaintiff remain confidential—the usual practice in court-approved settlements.

Amokura had struck Johnson’s Reef, a dangerous patch of coral north of Trunk Bay on the northern side of St. John island that is ringed with hazard bouys. Captain Timothy Frances Sales of Pennsylvania should never have left the helm with a boy in control, Oliver’s lawyers said, faulting sales for “not exercising proper vigilance or navigational control.” They said the accident was foreseeable given the nearby “shallow or reef-laden waters.”