DEMA Seminar - How to Avoid Litigation from Scuba Intros and General Instruction

[Scared Silly]

Got this letter from PADI today:

PADI works hard to deliver the most informative, interesting seminars at the DEMA Show each year, aimed at helping you grow your dive business. This year, we discovered one, NOT ONE OF OURS, that should be very important to you as a dive professional. Dive industry personal injury attorney Rick Lesser (who has filed an impressive string of big money lawsuits AGAINST dive operators and professionals for introductory scuba programs and other diving incidents over the past few years) will be presenting a seminar titled “How to Avoid Litigation from Scuba Intros and General Instruction” (at the Convention Center, 6 November at 1:00 pm).

Given his unique experience filing such cases AGAINST dive operators and professionals like you, it should be a fascinating perspective. The Question and Answer portion of the seminar should be especially interesting; following are questions that need to be asked, so please feel free to use these, as well as your own:

Approximately how much money has Lesser and Associates made in the last 5 years directly or indirectly from suing dive resorts, dive centers, dive operators, individual dive professionals, dive training organizations and their respective insurance companies? And, what percentage of this money has been put back into the industry?
Since the major dive training organizations like SSI, PADI and SDI, and their member dive resorts, dive centers and individual dive professionals all offer similar introductory programs meeting the RSTC standards, aren’t your successes in bringing these suits making litigation from other lawyers even more likely?
In the spirit of public safety, wouldn’t Lesser and Associates have better served the dive industry by offering to advise the RSTC regarding intro courses? Or, did you determine – as it appears – that it’s better just to sue the members of industry?
Didn’t you represent PADI and its diving program for many years?
After such a long and financially beneficial relationship with PADI, why did you end it? Why would you use what you learned in that relationship against the industry?
How many lawsuits have you had to withdraw from because of the use of insider information and a conflict of interest?
Didn’t you help formulate PADI’s DSD (intro) standards?
Didn’t you file a lawsuit against PADI claiming the DSD program - the same one you helped formulate - was defective and dangerous? So, did you use your insider information learned from your representation of PADI to file this lawsuit?
Didn’t you withdraw from that lawsuit after you were threatened with a bar complaint for an obvious conflict of interest?
If you are willing to sue your former client and its members, would you be willing to sue anyone in this room?
What impact do you feel this sort of litigation has on the cost and the ability of dive centers, resorts and individual dive professionals to secure liability insurance at a reasonable cost?
How much money does a dive training organization earn for each resort course experience?
How much of Lesser and Associates’ income as a result of diving litigation against the industry has been put back into the industry to promote public safety or environmental concerns?
In how many cases in the last 5 years has Lesser and Associates (or any individual participant with your firm) been hired or otherwise paid in a legal matter against a dive resort, dive center, individual dive professional, training organization or any of their respective insurance companies?

We’ll look forward to seeing you at the DEMA Show.

Brian P. Cronin
Chairman and CEO
PADI Worldwide

 

[Thalassamania]

I know Rick Lesser well and have been an expert "against" him many times. I strongly recommend that you listen to what he has to say, Rick does not pull his punches and knows what he is talking about. If anyone videos it, or just audio records it, please let me know ... I really wish I was there in person.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

Now I wish I could be there for that one!

 

[Peter Guy]

I too wish I could be there to hear the lecture.

However, I find the "questions" proposed by Mr. Cronin to be way over the top. They are way too self serving and irrelevant, not to mention in just poor bad taste in my very humble opinion.

A question for Mr. Cronin, why would Lesser and Associates have any reason to put money back into the Scuba Diving Industry? Their business is the law -- YOUR business is the industry. They are merely hired guns. And, by the way, if, in fact, they did legal work for PADI and then sued PADI, had PADI done its proper job of writing its original contract, the potential conflict of interest issues would have disappeared. Just because PADI's attorneys may have screwed up is no reason to be snotty to Lesser and Associates.

 

[mdb]

I too wish I could be there to hear the lecture.

However, I find the "questions" proposed by Mr. Cronin to be way over the top. They are way too self serving and irrelevant, not to mention in just poor bad taste in my very humble opinion.

A question for Mr. Cronin, why would Lesser and Associates have any reason to put money back into the Scuba Diving Industry? Their business is the law -- YOUR business is the industry. They are merely hired guns. And, by the way, if, in fact, they did legal work for PADI and then sued PADI, had PADI done its proper job of writing its original contract, the potential conflict of interest issues would have disappeared. Just because PADI's attorneys may have screwed up is no reason to be snotty to Lesser and Associates.

Spoken like a true lawyer. Doubt you have much knowledge of the Lesser firm.
Whoever pays gets the "expertise". You are correct- they are "hired guns".

 

[TSandM]

That's what an attorney IS, isn't it? They have no stake in any case they take; their job is to research the law and twist it as far as possible in favor of their clients

PADI's clear bitterness about this firm notwithstanding, this is likely to be an excellent talk. I have really learned from reading and listening to what plaintiff malpractice attorneys have to say about what makes their lives difficult.

 

[mdb]

That's what an attorney IS, isn't it? They have no stake in any case they take; their job is to research the law and twist it as far as possible in favor of their clients

Yes, how true indeed: "They have no stake in any case they take; their job is to research the law and twist it as far as possible in favor of their clients."

Is that a good thing?

 

[Scared Silly]

May not be good but that is what they are paid to do and they get paid based on how good they are .

 

[Peter Guy]

Is that a good thing?

Absolutely YES -- it is a VERY good thing!

Now I was never a civil law attorney -- I did my trial work as a criminal defense attorney (what my brother-in-law described as a job with a negative social value).

mdb -- If you are involved in a legal case, don't you want YOUR attorney to use every legal technique to ensure your side prevails? I sure as heck do. The key to our system is NOT to have the attorneys play judge and jury -- but, to the contrary, present the best case for their side that is possible and then let the Judge and Jury do their jobs. I don't want MY attorney to also make a value decision as to whether my side SHOULD prevail.

 

[Abaco24]

Just another personal injury attorney that has found his/her firm niche in the scuba world praying on dive mishaps like car wrecks and injuries. I hope they can help you stay safe and help your business. All lawyers look for a new market, just like the commercials you see on TV for asbestos or the next product/drug that goes wrong.

Just keep that in mind as to what the firms motive is while listening to the pitch. at DEMA. You never see an Alston & Bird or Holland & Knight in this capacity. So don't let the fact that they have a nice underwater webpage think they are the only firm that can help you. LexisNexis for 15 years.