Martha Nolan-O’Slatarra’s family filed a summons with notice against Christopher Durnan in Manhattan Supreme Court last week, moving the Montauk death case into civil court. The family is preparing a wrongful death lawsuit seeking $50 million.
The filing targets Durnan, who owned the boat where Nolan-O’Slatarra was found dead on Aug. 5 last year at the Montauk Yacht Club in Montauk. Michael Bowe said the family does not believe Martha died from intoxicants, and he described blood found by EMTs in multiple places at the scene.
Manhattan Supreme Court filing
The family’s summons with notice is the first formal step before a wrongful death complaint. It names Durnan and sets out the claim before the fuller lawsuit is filed, which means the dispute now moves from the circumstances of the death to civil allegations over fault and damages.
Nolan-O’Slatarra was 33 years old. She was originally from Ireland and owned East x East. In 2024, she said, “I was the small-town girl who needed to get out to achieve my big dreams,” and also said, “I always knew I wanted to be successful, that I was money-driven, business-driven — and that fashion is a tough industry and it would be a slow road.”
Police and medical examiner
The Suffolk County Police Department said in the days after her death that the autopsy did not show evidence of violence. The Suffolk County medical examiner has not publicly released a final cause and manner of death, leaving the family’s civil filing to proceed alongside an unresolved official finding.
East Hampton Town police responded to a 911 call from a man reporting an unconscious woman on a boat docked around midnight the day she was pronounced dead. First responders pronounced her dead on the boat after good Samaritans attempted CPR.
Michael Bowe on the claim
Bowe said the family does not believe Martha died from intoxicants. He also said EMTs found blood in her mouth, on her chest and head, on the floor, and possibly behind her head, and that the body was cold despite her allegedly having just lost consciousness.
Robert Holdman, Durnan’s attorney, said last year that his client was “absolutely destroyed” over Nolan-O’Slatarra’s death and added, “He watched his friend die in trauma.” With the civil claim now taking shape, the next step is the filing of the wrongful death lawsuit built around the family’s assault, gross negligence and reckless and wanton conduct allegations.
