Death of diver (Palm Beach County Fl): case settled

[Biotech Diver]

If I remember correctly when this happened, the dive boat operator also left a few divers in the water after he backed his boat over the woman then tried in game to get her back to shore. I have no idea why he hasn’t been charged with any crimes yet.

 

[coldwaterglutton]

Not unlikely that the insurance company likely paid the policy value, given the facts we know about the likely fault of the boat operator (assuming those facts tell the whole story).

 

[Bob DBF]

I’m still going to disagree. The COVID shutdown was an attempt to stop the spread of the virus, not to ensure everyone on your property were obeying the law. If it were not for the shutdown I’m sure they still would have sued the marina for some other frivolous assignment of blame.

By state order Marinas were not essential businesses and should have been closed. If it had been closed, the boat could not have loaded passengers, also in violation of the state covid order, and made the fateful trip.

Regardless of the "obvious" fault of the captain, an argument can be made that the marina shares fault by being open in violation of the order. If they are not brought to the table, any fault that falls on them can not be recovered. Also, with their lack of participation, the other parties will be working to place as much blame on them as possible.

It's not frivolous to bring everyone that could be even be partially responsible into the suit, because there is no second chance.

 

[Biotech Diver]

By state order Marinas were not essential businesses and should have been closed. If it had been closed, the boat could not have loaded passengers, also in violation of the state covid order, and made the fateful trip.

Regardless of the "obvious" fault of the captain, an argument can be made that the marina shares fault by being open in violation of the order. If they are not brought to the table, any fault that falls on them can not be recovered. Also, with their lack of participation, the other parties will be working to place as much blame on them as possible.

It's not frivolous to bring everyone that could be even be partially responsible into the suit, because there is no second chance.

Your logic is very very flawed. By your logic, if I got drunk, rode my motorcycle, and crashed and died while I was not commuting to work as an essential worker or to the grocery store, etc., my family could sue the city because they didn't do more to protect me from myself. Your logic is also very flawed and contradicts itself because on one hand you say to bring all parties partially at fault to the suit. Well what about the husband and his wife who decided to violate the SIP orders and go diving anyway? What about the owners of the parking garage where they "may" have parked their car at the marina during the dive? The lawsuit is frivolous. Be honest here, Bob, the only reason they went after the marina is because the marina has deep pockets or a great insurance policy. The boat captain is at fault here. Not the boat manufacturer. Not the manufacturer of the boat propeller. Not the scuba gear manufacturer. Not the city or county. And not the owners of the marina.

 

[Biotech Diver]

By state order Marinas were not essential businesses and should have been closed. If it had been closed, the boat could not have loaded passengers, also in violation of the state covid order, and made the fateful trip.

Regardless of the "obvious" fault of the captain, an argument can be made that the marina shares fault by being open in violation of the order. If they are not brought to the table, any fault that falls on them can not be recovered. Also, with their lack of participation, the other parties will be working to place as much blame on them as possible.

It's not frivolous to bring everyone that could be even be partially responsible into the suit, because there is no second chance.

This post autosaved when I was typing on my phone and had to stop and I don't see an option to delete.

 

[Biotech Diver]

I'll add one more thought. When lawsuits like this are allowed to succeed, it drives up the cost of things we enjoy doing, such as scuba diving, unnecessarily for everyone else, or ruins it all together.

 

[Manatee Diver]

I'll add one more thought. When lawsuits like this are allowed to succeed, it drives up the cost of things we enjoy doing, such as scuba diving, unnecessarily for everyone else, or ruins it all together.

Sometimes they do, but at the same time lawsuits are often the only punishment that companies get for wrong doing, and often should result in much harsher penalties.

One company lied for years and knew about it. Reading the emails between management and engineers show that that they were well aware of them. Yet the punishment was a fraction of what they deserved and they are still in business today, selling the same product.

 

[rjack321]

If I remember correctly when this happened, the dive boat operator also left a few divers in the water after he backed his boat over the woman then tried in game to get her back to shore. I have no idea why he hasn’t been charged with any crimes yet.

Possibly because he's facing criminal charges (or plea bargain) and those take time. The civil case is potentially waiting to use a criminal conviction as leverage for a larger civil settlement.

 

[Biotech Diver]

Sometimes they do, but at the same time lawsuits are often the only punishment that companies get for wrong doing, and often should result in much harsher penalties.

One company lied for years and knew about it. Reading the emails between management and engineers show that that they were well aware of them. Yet the punishment was a fraction of what they deserved and they are still in business today, selling the same product.

The wrong doing in this case was on the boat captain. The marina had nothing to do with her death. If this had been pre COVID-19 I can't imagine you, or Bob, trying to make the argument that the marina was at fault. If the marina is at fault because someone violated the order not to follow the SIP, then the divers on that boat, including the victims, are all equally at fault. See how that logic works?

 

[rjack321]

Your logic is very very flawed. By your logic, if I got drunk, rode my motorcycle, and crashed and died while I was not commuting to work as an essential worker or to the grocery store, etc., my family could sue the city because they didn't do more to protect me from myself. Your logic is also very flawed and contradicts itself because on one hand you say to bring all parties partially at fault to the suit. Well what about the husband and his wife who decided to violate the SIP orders and go diving anyway? What about the owners of the parking garage where they "may" have parked their car at the marina during the dive? The lawsuit is frivolous. Be honest here, Bob, the only reason they went after the marina is because the marina has deep pockets or a great insurance policy. The boat captain is at fault here. Not the boat manufacturer. Not the manufacturer of the boat propeller. Not the scuba gear manufacturer. Not the city or county. And not the owners of the marina.

You don't understand proportional liability at all. The marina may very well have settled for a nominal amount as an iron clad defense which is cheaper than keeping lawyers around to defend themselves.
https://www.wilsonelser.com/writabl...te-survey-joint-and-several-liability_mm4.pdf