George Pino’s wife must pay $16 million to family of girl seriously hurt in boat crash: Judge

The wife of Miami commercial real estate developer George Pino agreed to pay $16 million to the family of a Lourdes high school student permanently disabled in a Biscayne Bay boat crash in which her husband was at the helm.

The settlement reached last week was agreed to by both parties earlier this month, but Cecilia Pino’s attorneys wanted a judge to keep the monetary amount confidential.

A 17-year-old girl, Luciana Fernandez, was killed in the Labor Day weekend crash on Sept. 4, 2022, crash, and several others were injured. Katerina Puig, now 19, was left with a lifetime of medical needs and without the possibility of living independently. She had been a senior at Our Lady of Lourdes Academy and a star soccer player when the crash occurred.

Her parents, Kathya and Rodolpho Puig, sued the Pino couple individually in March 2023 claiming, among other things, that George Pino had been drinking prior to the crash and that the couple provided the girls on the boat alcohol.

All 14 people onboard, including George and Cecilia Pino, were thrown into the water when his 29-foot Robalo smacked into a fixed channel marker in the Intracoastal Waterway. The Pinos were celebrating the 18th birthday of their daughter and had invited her friends to join them on the boat. They had gone to Elliott Key in South Biscayne Bay and were heading back to their vacation home at the exclusive Ocean Reef Club gated community in Key Largo when the tragedy occurred.

The case was marked by controversy because the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, the lead investigative agency, almost immediately ruled out alcohol as a factor in the crash despite 61 empty alcoholic beverage containers found on the boat the next day.

The night of the crash, George Pino told an FWC officer that he “had two beers.”

READ MORE: 61 booze containers on crashed boat in Keys — and parents outraged over minor charges

George Pino also told investigators that a larger boat coming at him in the channel caused him to abruptly turn and hit the channel marker. No one on the boat nor on other boats in the area saw that vessel, according to investigators.

There is a pending criminal case against George Pino, but on much lesser misdemeanor counts of careless boating. He has pleaded not guilty.

A similar case in Key West, in which a boater struck a fixed channel marker, resulted in that vessel operator charged with negligent homicide, a felony. Luciana Fernadez’s parents have accused the FWC and Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office of showing Pino, a well-connected businessman, preferential treatment in the case against him.

“We now have no other choice but to conclude that Mr. Pino has been, and continues to be, treated differently,” Andres and Melissa Fernandez said in a statement to the Herald after hearing about the February charges against the Key West boater.

The Fernandezes did not file a lawsuit against the Pinos, according to court records.

A judge approved a confidential settlement with George Pino and the Puigs in February, but the Puig lawsuit against Cecilia and other defendants continued.

Last Thursday, Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Migna Sanchez-Llorens ordered Ceclia Pino to pay the Puig family $16 million, with 9.34% annual interest.

Ivan Cabrera, the Puigs’ attorney, and Andrew Mecolotto, Cecilia Pino’s attorney, both declined to comment on the case when reached by the Herald.

The amount was agreed to by the parties, but Cecilia Pino’s attorneys filed a motion Thursday asking Sanchez-Llorens to seal the amount of the agreement for 10 years to “avoid substantial injury” to her and her family.

In that motion, the attorneys cited frequent coverage of the case by “the Miami Herald, in a host of other media outlets and on social media” as a reason to keep the agreement sealed.

The motion also states that the media coverage has damaged business at State Street Realty, George Pino’s company, where Cecilia Pino is employed.

Sanchez-Llorens denied the motion on Friday, but also ordered that the judgment will not be recorded in the official records of Miami-Dade County.