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Parents of two Tequesta teens lost at sea return to court

Posted at 11:15 AM, Mar 14, 2018
and last updated 2018-03-15 09:14:07-04

The parents of the two Tequesta teens lost at sea were back in court Wednesday.

Austin Stephanos and Perry Cohen were last seen leaving for a fishing trip from the Jupiter Inlet on July 24, 2015, and have not been seen or heard from since. The boys' missing boat and iPhone has since been recovered. 

The family of Perry Cohen is suing the family of Austin Stephanos in civil court for negligence. 

In August of last year, Austin’s father Blu Stephanos filed a motion to dismiss the complaint against him.

In his motion to dismiss, Stephanos claims he was improperly sued. It says Blu did nothing wrong saying he was “not in charge of the boys and had never seen the boat.” 

It also says he was not wrong for trying to look for his son, claiming the Cohens want to blame Blu Stephanos for trying to help.

The Cohens' lawsuit alleges that Blu did not properly notify the authorities after he learned that the boys were missing.  The Cohens are suing Blu under the provision called negligent undertaking of a search and rescue of his own without communicating with local law enforcement or the U.S. Coast Guard.

The judge has not yet issued a ruling on the motion to dismiss. 

It is possible that the judge could rule in favor of Blu Stephanos, but allow the Cohens to amend and refile it against him.