A state judge has ruled in favor of the town of Brooksville in its long-simmering legal dispute with a local marina owner.
Jon Buck, owner of Buck’s Harbor Marina, filed two claims against the town with the state’s business and consumer court in 2022. One claim alleged the town unfairly targeted his marina after a yacht tied up to a mooring without permission and then was dragged by foul weather into another boat. The other was a tort claim seeking monetary damages against the town.
The court dismissed Buck’s claims last month, but Buck has appealed those decisions to the state Supreme Judicial Court, according to the Weekly Packet newspaper.
Buck and Mark Shaughnessy, chair of the town’s harbor committee, did not immediately respond Monday morning to requests for comment.
In August 2020, after the boats collided, the town sent a notice accusing the marina of violating the harbor ordinance because the offending yacht was too large for its mooring and dragged it. Buck countered that the yacht’s operator had tied up without the marina’s approval and the resulting damage was minor.
That fall, Buck signed a written agreement with the town on how to resolve the dispute, but officials later said he violated that agreement.
Buck decided against reopening the marina in 2023 and instead put it on the market.
The property remains listed for sale by Christie’s International Real Estate for $1,825,000.
