Copper Star owner asks Cordova City Council to push mediation in travel lift lawsuit

Jeremiah Beckett, owner of the Cordova Copper Star, asked the Cordova City Council on Wednesday to push the city toward mediation in his lawsuit over a 2023 travel lift failure. He said the city dropped his boat in August 2023. He put the cost at hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages and lost income.

Beckett said initial discovery and interviews in the case are complete, but "the city still won't agree to mediate." About a month ago, he said, a judge dismissed the city's counterclaims, which sought to place blame for the incident on his business and crew. He called those claims frivolous.

Staff heard the winch fail during the first lift attempt, and the lift alarms went off, he said, citing testimony. He said staff had no formal training and went ahead with a second attempt. That attempt led to "the catastrophic failure of the travel lift," he said. He said the harbormaster is responsible but "takes zero accountability."

Beckett also alleged the city deleted video and destroyed physical evidence, including the straps and winches. "This is called spoliation in the legal world," he said. He said that typically means the city must prove it was not negligent.

The city runs a 150-ton travel lift and shipyard. Cordova's fiscal year 2024 budget included $126,845 for travel-lift repair and maintenance, according to city budget materials. No city official answered the allegations at the meeting, and council members did not raise the lawsuit in their closing comments.

At a May 6 council meeting, Beckett gave the same 317 First Street address and spoke ahead of a closed session on the Copper Star lawsuit. "June 2022, that was the last travel lift maintenance by Blackler before he retired," he said then. "January '23, seven months later, the city greased the travel lift bearings. They didn't put any other maintenance."

Beckett said his side has always been open to a fair settlement. He asked the council to direct city management and the city's insurer toward mediation. "It's in your power to end this," he said.