A boat tour owner is fighting back against allegations of inappropriate business practices.
Carl Hatley Jr., owner of Bradenton-based Fun Florida Tours LLC, told his side of the story July 11 regarding a Holmes Beach property owner’s lawsuit against his company. “Nothing that we do affects or harms manatees in any way,” Hatley said. “It’s a bogus lawsuit.”
Roger and Irene Alvarez, owners of 201 N. Harbor Drive, filed a lawsuit in April against Fun Florida Tours seeking more than $50,000 in damages and an injunction to prohibit the tours from entering their canal at Sportsman Harbor.
The harbor is an inlet off Anna Maria Sound that runs up to the Alvarez property, where manatees can be found in the water.
Fun Florida Tours offers guided kayak tours featuring lighted, transparent vessels for visibility into the water under the kayak. The tours run at different times, including night tours that run 8-11 p.m.
Alvarez’s lawsuit claims the tour company’s forays into Sportsman Harbor involved disturbing manatees by herding them up to his seawall.
It also claims the tours’ frequent visits to his seawall constitute a private nuisance, as well as put the property owners at risk of liability claims.
The complaint argues that the tour company’s actions had caused him more than $50,000 in damages, including the diminution of property value, increased cost of insurance, as well as exposure to personal injury and property damage claims.
Hatley denied Alvarez’s claims.
“It’s all lies,” he said. “He just doesn’t want kayaks in the canal behind his house at the end of the day.”
Hatley said the inlet is open to public use and kayakers did not violate any laws by visiting for 15 minutes out of a 90-minute tour.
He said manatees sometimes approach but he pushed back against claims tourgoers harass them.
“If we see a manatee, our guides tell everybody to lift their paddles. We don’t touch them, we don’t feed them, we don’t give them water. We just observe,” Hatley said.
Hatley claimed the suit, which he estimated could cost $25,000, was an attempt to drive his company out of business.
“What this is at the end of the day is you have a rich homeowner who’s claiming that his $6 million house lost 25% of its value because of us kayaking in the canal,” he said.
A Zoom hearing on Alvarez’s motion for a temporary injunction will be at 12:50 p.m. July 25.