The family of an Irish bikini designer found dead aboard a luxury yacht at an upscale New York marina is facing a legal pause after a federal judge suspended their state wrongful death lawsuit. The yacht’s owner is seeking either complete exoneration or a maritime-law limit on his liability, potentially reducing the family’s $50 million claim to less than 1% of that amount.
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 his potential exposure at $476,942—the appraised value of the vessel, according to his attorneys.
“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 sit for his deposition.”
FAMILY OF BIKINI DESIGNER IN MONTAUK YACHT DEATH FILES $50M LAWSUIT ALLEGING ASSAULT
Martha Nolan, 33, owned a Manhattan-based swimwear company known for its high-end bikinis. (Facebook/ Martha Nolan)
James Mercante, Durnan’s attorney, who specializes in maritime law, declined to comment.
Such filings are routine, said David Cattie, a U.S. Virgin Islands attorney and expert in federal maritime law. He explained that vessel owners can receive “vastly more protection” at sea than they would on land if the case meets the requirements of federal law.
“But if they are claiming, and can prove, direct involvement or knowledge by the owner, those protections evaporate,” he told News Media.
“In short, he is asking the court to invoke admiralty jurisdiction and halt the state court claims,” Cattie said. “He is also seeking exoneration—meaning the owner has no liability—or limitation, which caps liability and exposure at the post-incident value of the vessel.”
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 “privity,” Cattie said. The court will examine whether the circumstances that allegedly caused or contributed to Nolan-O’Slatarra’s death involved a condition 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 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 docked, it remained in what maritime law considers a “navigable waterway,” Cattie added.
“If the harm transpired on the vessel, it would be subject to admiralty jurisdiction,” Cattie told News Media. “If it happened on the dock and the deceased was moved to the vessel, it would probably not.”
Durnan has denied wrongdoing and has not been charged with a crime. His attorneys have also denied that he was negligent or otherwise at fault.
According to Durnan’s federal court filing, Nolan-O’Slatarra was a guest aboard the Ripple on Aug. 4, 2025. Around midnight on Aug. 5, she was found unconscious and unresponsive, and Durnan attempted to provide assistance, the filing says. His attorneys said he sought help from people on nearby boats. One person called 911 while another performed CPR on Nolan-O’Slatarra.
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. Bowe said Durnan had not authorized his attorney to accept service and could not be located at his waterfront home on Long Island, another residence in nearby Garden City—where investigators saw a Lamborghini registered in his name—or a third property in Windham, New York, about 150 miles from New York City.
Nolan-O’Slatarra’s family had 120 days 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 a Rolls-Royce was parked outside, according to court records. After several days of surveillance involving multiple 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 used 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 security. He ordered that related litigation “hereby are restrained, stayed and enjoined until the hearing and determination of this action.”
The judge also gave Nolan-O’Slatarra’s family an opportunity to challenge the petition. Potential claimants have until Jan. 25, 2027, to join the federal case and contest Durnan’s request.
East Hampton town police arrived at the Montauk Yacht Club shortly after midnight on Aug. 5, 2025, after receiving 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, although the final cause of death remained pending further investigation.
In a wrongful death lawsuit filed earlier this year, however, Nolan-O’Slatarra’s family accused Durnan of assaulting her or engaging in grossly negligent, reckless and wanton conduct that caused her injuries and death.
“When the EMTs arrived, they found blood in her mouth, on her chest and on her head—and they believed there was blood behind her head,” Bowe told News Media in August.