'Impeccably Honest' Denison Seeks Dismissal, Throws Galati, Allied Under the Bus

Yet Another Yacht Broker Suit Filed; All Three Are Consolidated

Bob Denison appears on a 2023 YouTube interview program. Denison took over his father’s yacht brokerage in 2020.

In a now-combined lawsuit with so many defendants, it was probably inevitable that one of them would begin to throw some of the others under the bus. Bob Denison’s company got there first when it asked the judge to dismiss the case against Denison alone.

The yacht press describes Denison Yacht Sales as a “powerhouse,” often the leading broker in annual superyacht sales worldwide and employing nearly 100 brokers in 22 offices.

Yesterday, three cases with 21 defendants—including Denison, both big yacht broker associations and the company owning Yachtworld multiple listing service—were glummed into one big case. Michael Moore, a judge at U.S. District Court in Miami, said the lawsuits meet criteria for consolidation:

All three cases involve common questions of law or fact: each action arises out of defendants’ alleged enforcement of an anti-competitive rule that requires pre-owned boat and yacht sellers to pay a brokerage fee to the buyer’s broker, as well as a total aggregate commission fee that is inflated as a condition for selling their boats or yachts. The cases also share some of the same defendants. Finally, the plaintiffs in all three cases make a claim for violation of the Sherman Act.

Thus, Snell vs. Allied Marine and Magna Charter vs. BoatGroup will now be pursued under the original case, colorfully entitled Ya Mon vs. International Yacht Brokers Association.

Lawsuit Rocks the Yacht-Sales World