The family of an Irish bikini designer found dead aboard a luxury yacht at an exclusive New York marina is facing a legal pause in its case after a federal judge temporarily halted their state wrongful-death lawsuit. The yacht’s owner is seeking either complete exoneration or a limit on his liability to less than 1% of the family’s $50 million claim under federal maritime law.
Martha Nolan-O’Slatarra, a 33-year-old Irish expatriate and New York fashion designer, was found dead aboard the 54-foot Sea Ray yacht Ripple at the Montauk Yacht Club in August 2025.
Christopher Durnan, 61, a multimillionaire insurance executive and investor in Nolan-O’Slatarra’s swimwear company, has invoked federal maritime law in an effort to avoid liability entirely or cap any potential damages at $476,942. His attorneys say that figure represents the yacht’s appraised value.
“This is a typical delay tactic that is rarely successful and will not be here,” said Michael Bowe, a New York attorney representing Nolan-O’Slatarra’s family. “Mr. Durnan will soon have to answer to the complaint we are prepared to file and then to sit for his deposition.”
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Martha Nolan, 33, owned a Manhattan-based swimwear company known for its high-end bikinis. (Facebook/ Martha Nolan)
James Mercante, Durnan’s attorney and a maritime-law specialist, declined to comment.
Filings of this kind are common, said David Cattie, a U.S. Virgin Islands attorney who also specializes in federal maritime law. Vessel owners can have “vastly more protection” at sea than on land when a case meets the requirements of federal law, he said.
“But if they are claiming, and can prove, direct involvement or knowledge by the owner, those protections evaporate,” Cattie told News Outlet.
“In short, he is asking the Court to invoke admiralty’s jurisdiction to stop the state court claims,” Cattie said. “He is also asking the Court for exoneration — meaning the owner has no liability at all — or limitation, which caps liability and exposure at the value of the vessel after the incident.”
Martha Nolan-O’Slatarra, a 33-year-old Irish expatriate and New York fashion designer, was found dead at the Montauk Yacht Club in August 2025. (GoFundMe)
A central issue in the federal case will be the concept of “privity,” Cattie said. The court is expected to examine whether the conditions allegedly linked to Nolan-O’Slatarra’s death involved something Durnan personally knew about or was responsible for.
“If the owner was involved in or knew of the defect that caused the harm, he cannot limit his liability to the value of the vessel,” Cattie said.
Christopher Durnan holds a guitar painted with a design resembling the Grateful Dead band logo beside an image of the Ripple, the 54-foot Sea Ray yacht where summerwear designer Martha Nolan was found dead. (Left: Doug Kuntz, Right: Christopher Durnan/LinkedIn)
Although the yacht was moored at the marina, it remained in what the law considers a “navigable waterway,” Cattie said.
“If the harm transpired on the vessel, it would be subject to Admiralty jurisdiction,” Cattie told News Outlet. “If it happened on the dock and the deceased was moved to the vessel, it would probably not.”
Durnan has denied wrongdoing, has not been criminally charged and, through his attorneys, has denied any fault or negligence.
In his federal court filing, Durnan said Nolan-O’Slatarra was a guest aboard the Ripple on Aug. 4, 2025. Around midnight on Aug. 5, she became unconscious and unresponsive, and Durnan attempted to provide assistance, according to the filing. His attorneys said he sought help from people on nearby boats at the marina. One person called 911 while another performed CPR on Nolan-O’Slatarra.
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Photos show what appears to be a white powdery substance aboard the Ripple, where Suffolk County police identified the woman found dead as Martha Nolan O’Slatarra, 33, founder of Manhattan-based East x East. (hoo-me.com/MediaPunch /IPX via AP)
“If any fault caused or contributed to the claims for loss, damage and/or fatality, which is denied, such fault, neglect, or want of care was occasioned and occurred without the Petitioner’s privity or knowledge,” Durnan’s attorneys wrote. “The Petitioner acted reasonably under the circumstances.”
The wrongful-death lawsuit was filed in August, but court records show Durnan was not served until Oct. 1. According to Bowe, who represents Nolan-O’Slatarra’s estate, Durnan had not authorized his attorney to accept service and could not be located at his waterfront home on Long Island, a residence in nearby Garden City where a Lamborghini registered to him was spotted, or a third property in Windham, New York, about 150 miles from New York City.
Nolan-O’Slatarra’s family was working under a 120-day deadline to serve the lawsuit.
Law enforcement officers gather near luxury yachts at the Montauk Yacht Club marina during the investigation into the death of 33-year-old Martha Nolan. (WNYW)
A process server eventually located Durnan at a fourth property, his waterfront vacation home in Lantana, Florida, where court records say a Rolls-Royce was parked outside. After a dayslong effort involving several process servers and private investigators, Durnan was served. He allegedly told one of them that he “was surprised it took you so long.”
The following day, court records show, Durnan asked a federal judge to eliminate or limit his potential liability.
“When we have trouble serving someone, it’s a red flag that something fishy is going on,” said Randolph Rice, a Maryland attorney and legal analyst. “Ultimately, this maritime maneuver may give the defense a legal lifeline, but it’s far from clear whether the argument will float with the federal court.”
Durnan is relying on the same federal maritime law invoked by the owner of the cargo ship that struck Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge in 2024 while seeking to limit liability for that disaster, Rice said.
A general view of the Ripple, docked at The Star Island Marina in Montauk early on Aug. 5, 2025. (Doug Kuntz)
On Oct. 27, U.S. Magistrate Judge Gabriel W. Gorenstein approved Durnan’s request to post the yacht’s appraised value as substitute collateral. He also ordered that related litigation “hereby are restrained, stayed and enjoined until the hearing and determination of this action.”
The judge gave Nolan-O’Slatarra’s family an opportunity to challenge the petition and set Jan. 25, 2027, as the deadline for potential claimants to join the federal case and oppose Durnan’s request.
East Hampton police arrived at the Montauk Yacht Club shortly after midnight on Aug. 5, 2025, following a report of an unconscious woman aboard Durnan’s yacht. The woman was Nolan-O’Slatarra, who was pronounced dead at the scene.
A law enforcement official wearing disposable blue gloves examines the yacht where 33-year-old Martha Nolan was found on Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2025. (Doug Kuntz)
Suffolk County police said forensic pathologists found no signs of violence, but Nolan-O’Slatarra’s final cause of death remained pending additional investigation.
In a wrongful-death lawsuit filed earlier this year, however, her family accused Durnan of assaulting Nolan-O’Slatarra or engaging in grossly negligent, reckless and wanton conduct that led to her injuries and death.
“The EMTs, when they arrived, found blood in her mouth. On her chest, on her head, and they believe behind her, behind her head,” Bowe told News Outlet in August.
