Great Lakes Insurance SE v. Lily Williams and Baywatch Boat Rentals, Tours & Charters, Inc. d/b/a Captain Joe’s Boat Rentals, Tours & Charters, Inc.

CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Florida
DecidedNovember 12, 2025
Docket1:23-cv-23556
StatusUnknown

This text of Great Lakes Insurance SE v. Lily Williams and Baywatch Boat Rentals, Tours & Charters, Inc. d/b/a Captain Joe’s Boat Rentals, Tours & Charters, Inc. (Great Lakes Insurance SE v. Lily Williams and Baywatch Boat Rentals, Tours & Charters, Inc. d/b/a Captain Joe’s Boat Rentals, Tours & Charters, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Great Lakes Insurance SE v. Lily Williams and Baywatch Boat Rentals, Tours & Charters, Inc. d/b/a Captain Joe’s Boat Rentals, Tours & Charters, Inc., (S.D. Fla. 2025).

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF FLORIDA

Case No.: 23-cv-23556-JB/Reid

GREAT LAKES INSURANCE SE, A Delaware limited liability company,

Plaintiff, v.

LILY WILLIAMS and BAYWATCH BOAT RENTALS, TOURS & CHARTERS, INC. d/b/a CAPTAIN JOE’S BOAT RENTALS, TOURS & CHARTERS, INC.,

Defendants. ________________________________________/

ORDER ON MAGISTRATE JUDGE’S REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION THIS CAUSE was referred to the Honorable Lisette M. Reid, United States Magistrate Judge, for a Report and Recommendation on three cross-motions for summary judgment as follows: 1. Plaintiff Great Lakes Insurance SE (“Great Lakes”) Motion for Summary Judgment and Statement of Facts in Support, ECF Nos. [94] and [93]; Defendant Lilly Williams (“Williams”) Opposition and Statement of Facts in Opposition, ECF Nos. [113] and [106]; Defendant Baywatch Boat Rentals, Tours & Charters, Inc. d/b/a Captain Joe’s Boat Rentals, Tours & Charters, Inc.’s (“Captain Joe’s”) Opposition and Statement of Facts in Opposition, ECF Nos. [116] and [115]; and Great Lakes’ Reply in Support of its Motion for Summary Judgment and Replies to Williams’ and Captain Joe’s Additional Statement of Facts, ECF Nos. [129], [127], and [128];

2. Williams’ Motion for Summary Judgment and Statement of Facts in Support, ECF Nos. [95] and [90]; Great Lakes’ Opposition and Statement of Facts in Opposition, ECF Nos. [110] and [109]; and Williams’ Reply in Support of her Motion for Summary Judgment and Reply Statement of Facts, ECF Nos. [130] and [131]; and 3. Captain Joe’s Motion for Summary Judgment and Statement of Facts in Support, ECF Nos. [97] and [96]; Great Lakes’ Opposition and Statement of Facts in Opposition, ECF Nos. [111] and [108]; and Captain Joe’s Reply in Support of its Motion for Summary Judgment and Reply Statement of Facts, ECF Nos. [133] and [132].

See ECF No. [58]. I. BACKGROUND This matter arises from an incident aboard a charter vessel operated by Captain Joe’s. ECF No. [95] at 3–4. On June 23, 2020, Williams was among several invited guests who boarded one of three chartered vessels, each embarking on a four- hour cruise to a local sandbar and returning to docks located behind a hotel in North Bay Village, Florida. Id. at 4. Prior to returning to the docks, Williams was unable to locate her sandals and returned to the charter vessels to look for them. Id. at 5. Having no luck on one of the vessels, she walked to one of the other vessels which was in the process of being cleaned. Id. Williams ascended a ladder from the cockpit of the vessel up to the flybridge to continue her search. Id. While descending the same ladder, Williams slipped and fell, sustaining serious injuries, among which were fractures of her right tibia and fibula. Id. at 6. Williams notified Captain Joe’s of her injuries in July and August of 2020. Id. The incident has since prompted multiple legal actions. In addition to Williams’ suit against Captain Joe’s in state court (the “State Court Action”), Great Lakes, who insured Captain Joe’s at the time of Williams injury, also filed a declaratory action seeking a finding that the insurance policy between Great Lakes and Captain Joe’s (the “Policy”) was void (the “Declaratory Action”). See Great Lakes Insurance SE v. Baywatch Boat Rentals, Tours & Charters, Inc., No.1:21-cv-21220- JLK (S.D. Fla. October 13, 2022). During the pendency of the Declaratory Action, Captain Joe’s filed a motion to

dismiss for failing to join Williams as an indispensable party. See Great Lakes Ins., SE v. Baywatch Boat Rentals, Tours & Charters, Inc., No. 1:21-CV-21220-JLK, 2022 WL 22835905, at *2 (S.D. Fla. Jan. 18, 2022). The Honorable Senior United States District Judge King held that Williams was not an indispensable party, and did not need to be included in the Declaratory Action because Williams’ interest was “not legally protectable because they derive ‘from a purely speculative outcome in the state

action still pending, not the insurance policy at issue here.’ [ ] Williams . . . [is not a] party to the insurance policy at issue in this declaratory judgment action and thus [has] no legally protectable interest in it.” Id. (citing to Mid-Continent Cas. Co. v. Basdeo, No. 08-cv-61473, 2009 WL 2450386, at *3 (S.D. Fla. Aug. 7, 2009). Ultimately, the Declaratory Action resulted in a settlement agreement between Great Lakes and Captain Joe’s, (the “Settlement” or “Great Lakes Settlement”) in October of 2022. Among the terms of the Great Lakes Settlement

were that: (1) Great Lakes would return $150,000 worth of premium payments to Captain Joe’s; (2) Captain Joe’s would release Great Lakes from all liability under the Policy; (3) the Policy would be void from its inception; (4) the Policy would not cover Williams’ claim; (5) Captain Joe’s would not assign any rights it may have against Great Lakes to Williams; and (6) Captain Joe’s would indemnify Great lakes from any claims by Williams arising from the incident with Captain Joe’s. See ECF No. [93–7]. In the State Court Action, Williams and Captain Joe’s ultimately settled their

claims in the State Court Action by way of a consent judgment and a settlement and assignment agreement, (the “Consent Judgment”). See ECF No. [95] at 6; see generally Lilly Williams v. Baywatch Boat Rentals, Tours & Charters, Inc., No. CACE-21-007626, (Fla. Cir. Ct. Apr. 15, 2021). The Consent Judgment stated that Williams could seek satisfaction of the agreed upon $800,000 judgment against “any other responsible agent or party, including but not limited to Great Lakes Insurance

SE pursuant to the terms of the Settlement Agreement and Assignment,” and assigned to Williams “all claims, rights, or benefits that Baywatch may have against Atlass and/or under the policy with Great Lakes . . . .” ECF No. [96–5] at 2. On July 20, 2023, Williams then turned to Great Lakes to satisfy the Consent Judgment by filing a Civil Remedy Notice, alleging that Great Lakes was acting in bad faith. See ECF No. [1–10]. The third action, the instant suit filed by Great Lakes on September 15, 2023,

is a declaratory action which asks the Court to recognize, amongst other things, the Settlement it reached with its insured, Captain Joe’s, from its original Declaratory Action. See generally ECF No. [94] at 1–2. Specifically, the Complaint seeks: (1) a declaratory judgment that the Policy was void from its inception (“Count I”); (2) a declaratory judgment that Great Lakes did not commit bad faith under New York Law (“Count II”); (3) in the alternative to Count II, a declaratory judgment that Great Lakes did not commit bad faith under Florida law (“Count III”); (4) a breach of the Great Lakes Settlement Agreement against Captain Joe’s (“Count IV”), and (5) a Contractual Indemnity against Captain Joe’s (“Count V”). See ECF No. [33–1].

Williams filed a counterclaim for declaratory judgment that the Policy provides indemnity coverage to Williams for her Consent Judgment. See ECF No. [10] at 12. The parties each filed Motions for Summary Judgment and supporting statements of material facts, which were referred to Magistrate Judge Reid for a Report and Recommendation. See ECF Nos. [93], [94], [90], [95], [96], [97]; see also ECF No. [58]. II. THE REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION

Magistrate Judge Reid filed a Report and Recommendation (“R&R”), recommending that Great Lakes’ and Williams’ Motions for Summary Judgment be granted in part and denied in part, and that Captain Joe’s Motion for Summary Judgement be denied. ECF No. [135]. More specifically, regarding Great Lakes’ Count I claim for a declaratory judgment that the Policy was void from its inception, and Williams’ counterclaim for coverage under the Policy, the R&R concluded that the policy was not void from inception, that Williams has standing to challenge the

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Great Lakes Insurance SE v. Lily Williams and Baywatch Boat Rentals, Tours & Charters, Inc. d/b/a Captain Joe’s Boat Rentals, Tours & Charters, Inc., Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/great-lakes-insurance-se-v-lily-williams-and-baywatch-boat-rentals-tours-flsd-2025.