The family of three people who drowned when a recalled pontoon boat capsized in Maine is suing the manufacturer and dealer.
The 2024 Sea-Doo Switch, an 18-foot pontoon boat, had a known safety issue and capsized on Aug. 30, 2025, in Flagstaff Lake. Three people were trapped under the flipped boat and drowned.
The Sea-Doo Switch was one of thousands of boats recalled by parent company Bombardier Recreational Products, Inc. months before the fatal capsizing. There was a risk of the boat nosediving into the water, causing it to flip end over end on its bow. The recall came after multiple people were injured and one person died in capsizing events.
Khizer Nasir and Hassan Akbar, who survived the Maine capsizing, and Nasir Hameed and Javed Akbar, who represent the estates of the three people killed, are suing Quebec-based Bombardier and Standish dealer Richardson’s Boat Yard.
The lawsuit, filed Monday in Cumberland County Superior Court, alleges wrongful death, negligence, breach of warranty and negligent infliction of emotional distress. Bombardier knew, or should have known, that the boat was unseaworthy, and Richardson’s Boat Yard should have known the boat was prone to capsizing, the lawsuit said.
Bombardier does not comment on pending litigation. Richardson’s Boat Yard did not respond to a request for comment.
The lawsuit is seeking unspecified damages, which will include funeral expenses.
Nasir Hameed, of Long Island, New York, had recently bought a business from John Morris. Morris owns a home on Flagstaff Lake and invited Hameed, his friends and family over for Labor Day weekend, the lawsuit said.
Morris bought the pontoon in May 2025 and did not know the boat was “inherently dangerous and prone to capsize suddenly,” the lawsuit said. Six of the visitors went on the boat with Morris to enjoy the lake, the lawsuit said. The passengers were seated in a way that was balanced on the boat and Morris was driving about 6 mph.
About five minutes after departing the dock, all seven people were thrown into the water as the boat flipped and three people were trapped underneath the boat, the lawsuit said.
“Morris was driving at a slow, reasonable speed, and the water was calm,” the lawsuit said. “Suddenly and unexpectedly the boat capsized in nine feet of water.”
When the boat flipped, the three people seated in the middle were trapped and drowned. Farhana Nasir, 53, and Kiran Akbar, 23, were pronounced dead at the scene and Noor Nasir, 22, died Sept. 2, 2025, at the hospital.
The survivors were family and friends of the people who drowned. Khizer Nasir was 21 at the time and watched his mother, sister and a family friend drown. Hassan Akbar, who was 22, had a neck injury and watched his sister drown, the lawsuit said.
Their deaths were caused by Bombardier and Richardson’s Boat Yard’s “failure to timely correct the defective and negligent design of the Sea-Doo Switch, which presented a foreseeable hazard to the pontoon boat’s occupants,” the lawsuit said.
The recall instructions from Bombardier did not fix the underlying problem, the lawsuit said. The Sea-Doo Switch “remained highly prone to capsizing and was unseaworthy and dangerous.”
Richardson’s Boat Yard repaired the boat before Morris bought it, but the company may have done the repair in a “negligent and shoddy manner,” the lawsuit said.
More than a month after the Maine drownings, Bombardier admitted the previous repair was not effective and issued a new repair.
The Sea-Doo Switch was not “fit for use” on the day of the capsizing, which was foreseeable, the lawsuit said.
“Today marks a significant step for the families in holding Bombardier accountable for what we believe is a dangerous and defective boat that they designed, manufactured, marketed and sold in Maine and across the country,” the family’s attorney, Travis Brennan, said. “How many people must die before real action occurs?”