Boy wins £290,000 over father's dive death off Cape Wrath

Please register or login

Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.

Benefits of registering include

  • Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
  • A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
  • You can make this box go away

Joining is quick and easy. Log in or Register now!

BlueTrin

Scallops aficionado
ScubaBoard Supporter
Messages
4,181
Reaction score
3,207
Location
UK
# of dives
200 - 499
https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-58434723.amp
The nine-year-old son of a diver who died off Cape Wrath in 2012 has been awarded £290,000 compensation.

A judge at the Court of Session in Edinburgh has ruled the captain of the Orkney-based dive boat did not do enough to minimise risks.

Vincent Warner's father, Lex, was injured in a fall before his dive.

Mr Warner's widow, Debbie, won a case at the UK Supreme Court in 2018 to be allowed to raise the civil court action on their son's behalf.

In a statement, the family from Sutton Coldfield, near Birmingham, said it had been a "long, long road" to get to Friday's ruling.

Mrs Warner said: "We feel relieved, numb and happy all at the same time but also sad because at the end of the day we're without Lex - this has been about seeking justice for him.

"We're still trying to work out what today's judgement actually means for the case going forward so I don't want to say anything else just now but we'd like to thank our legal team for fighting this case all the way and also our friends, family and the community who have supported us for nearly a decade."

Mr Warner, 50, and a group of friends had been making a "deep water" technical dive of a wreck.


He was on board the MV Jean Elaine vessel, operated by Stromness-based Scapa Flow Charters, in the hours before his death.

The case - which had seen Mrs Warner and her son sue for £500,000 - centred on an incident on the boat.

Mr Warner suffered an abdominal injury in a fall while wearing heavy diving equipment and fins.

The diver later got into trouble when in the water.

Lawyers for the family claimed the ship's skipper, Andy Cuthbertson, did not do enough to minimise the risks which came from divers walking on board boats while wearing fins.

Scapa Flow Charters' lawyers claimed Mr Warner had a duty to walk across the deck carefully because he had fins on and was carrying heavy equipment.


In his judgment, Lord Sandison agreed with the submissions made by the Warner family's legal team.

He said the Marine Accident Investigation Branch had records of divers who had sustained accidents from walking in fins on board boats.

The judge wrote that Mr Cuthbertson was "guilty of fault and neglect" under the terms of the law and had "failed to recognise" that the arrangements on his boat "permitted or even encouraged divers to walk on deck in fins".

Lord Sandison said that was an "inherently risky activity" to the extent that consideration should have been given to putting in place mechanisms to prevent or control the situation.

'Well-recognised risk'
He wrote: "The risk of a technical diver falling while walking in fins on deck was, as I have noted, well-recognised by the time of Mr Warner's fall.

"The risk that such a fall might well cause injury ought also to have been appreciated, given that it would involve a diver laden with heavy and solid equipment coming into contact, quite possibly uncontrolled and hard contact, with an unyielding surface (be that the deck, the boat's superstructure, or the equipment itself) without the benefit of any protective garb.

"The injury he in fact sustained can therefore properly be said to have arisen from or in connection with the fault and neglect of the defenders previously identified."

Mr Warner's widow had previously sued on her own behalf but her claim was ruled to be time-barred.

However, judges at the UK Supreme Court ruled that Vincent could bring a compensation case.

link to the court ruling: https://www.scotcourts.gov.uk/docs/...ral-docs/pdf-docs-for-opinions/2021csoh92.pdf

link to the investigation report: https://assets.publishing.service.g...244000015/JeanElaine_MAIBReportNo25-2013_.pdf
 
full.jpg


Might have to get my old man certified at 92
 
That’s unfortunate; I’m pretty comfortable blaming the victim here. This ruling will make having fun, or doing anything else, that much more difficult for everyone.
 
Woow... A technical diver walks with equipment and fins on a boat. Falls and dies.

And the boat owner hat so pay that much money to his child? Thats crazy!

In my opinion its his own fault. With that heavy equipment its common sense (and part of the training) to be careful and especially not to wear fins on land.
I teach that stuff in my open water courses.
And if he injured himself that bad, why did he dive?

Of course its very sad he died. And maybe it could have been prevented. But i don't see the reason why the boat owner has to pay that much (or even any) money.
 
After reading the investigation report I think both sides share some blame but, the diver is mostly to blame. If I tell the captain I am okay to dive, he is not going to argue with me unless blood is squirting out of my head. Ultimately you are responsible for your own safety, only you know if you are feeling ok to dive.
Yes, the crew knows people can fall, but the diver knows that risk too and should have been more careful. The boat looks like he could have just slid down the bench anyway.
My guess is he did not have much pain at first, then after a few minutes the pain starts setting in. He panicked, ascended too fast and died of an embolism.
 
"Judges overturn boy's £290,000 diving death payout"
"A boat company sued by the young son of a diver who died off Cape Wrath has welcomed a decision to overturn an award of £290,000 in compensation."


 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/teric/

Back
Top Bottom