Diver Dead in South Florida

[Mike Walsh]

The boat was to BIG for the capt. /owner to handle . The U.S.coast guard should pull his licence & never renew it !!!!!!

 

[gamon]

It appears that there is a lawsuit pending. Geico has filed a declaratory judgement.

Cases filed in Florida

In the case of insurance contracts, declaratory judgments help determine a policy's coverage. It helps to define if coverage exists for a particular peril, whether the insurer is required to defend the policyholder from a third party's claim...

 

[Fexei]

As a recreational skipper for more than 12 years, if the captain picked up the divers by backing up to them with a running and ingear engine as it was reported in this thread, this tragic accident was just waiting to happen imo.

I picked up my fair share of swimmers, waterskiers, snorklers and divers in a "engine running" situation.

- You dont have a clear view of the people in the water at your stern on a lot of ships. what if an inexperienced person decides to swim closer to the approaching boat? Sure they make a mistake, in Germany you as the captain would still be liable.
- if you dont run them over with the prop, there is still a good chance of someone getting crushed under the platform or hull of the ship due to wind and waves or simply not paying attention.
- as soon as swimmers are in the "danger zone" ( for me thats about the ships length) your propulsion system must be in neutral and let the momentum, current and wind work for you.
- It really doesnt take that much time to approach people in the water the proper way, taking into account current, wind and location. Even in a Man-Over-Board situation you dont just reverse into the drowning person and in such a situation time is of much more essence.

If I were experiencing that kind of maneuver as a diving client, it would have been my last dive with that boat.
And "time is money" is not making this maneuver less negligient and dangerous.

 

[scuba5150]

If I recall, almost every drift dive brief on charter boats I've been on have included "do not swim to boat unless instructed to".

Many don't listen to this part of brief.

From what the posts have said so far, the boat was backing towards her - nothing about she was swimming towards the boat.

 

[gamon]

From what the posts have said so far, the boat was backing towards her

Nobody posted that the boat was backing towards her. In fact, the details regarding how the unfortunate diver got caught up in the props under the boat are still unknown (or at least not reported) even now, several months later.

 

[Cert1967]

It appears that there is a lawsuit pending. Geico has filed a declaratory judgement.<<>>

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF FLORIDA In Admiralty

Case 9:20-cv-81165-RS​

GEICO MARINE INSURANCE COMPANY, Plaintiff,
v.
DUSTIN MCCABE, FLORIDA SCUBA CHARTERS, INC., and JOHN DOE, as Personal Representative of the Estate of MOLLIE GHIZ-FLYNN,

Excerpts Complaint -

• “Insured,” for purposes of P&I coverage, means “the individual, individual(s), or legal entity named on the Declarations Page.
  • FSC is not named on the Policy’s Declarations Page.
• The vessel that FSC was operating was a 1988 48' Ocean, hull identification number XYU7748FH788
• For hundreds of years, policies of marine insurance have been subject to the well-entrenched doctrine of uberrimae fidei
  • When seeking coverage for the Vessel, McCabe failed to disclose to GEICO Marine that he intended to operate the Vessel as a dive charter
    • McCabe stated that the use of the Vessel would be for “private pleasure."
  • the Vessel was 20 feet longer than any vessel he had ever operated.

Wonder what happened to the GEICO underwriter?

 

[Jafo19D]

Cat 4 tactical tourniquet, $25 on amazon, but you need to learn to use it. I teach it's use in my first aid class. We had them on Spree, but then, we had a lot of stuff on a liveaboard that you wouldn't have room for on a dayboat. Although I have one in my commercial diving first air kit, so there is that. All soldiers get one and are trained in it's use.

View attachment 577800

I think that on my last deployment they took those away from us and gave us some "better" ones. I would do some research before buying a tourniquet. I can't say that I'm 100% sure these are the ones they collected but just check it out.

 

[Manatee Diver]

I think that on my last deployment they took those away from us and gave us some "better" ones. I would do some research before buying a tourniquet. I can't say that I'm 100% sure these are the ones they collected but just check it out.

For the longest time the CAT was one of the three tourniquets approved by CoTCCC, they recently expanded the list but the CAT is still on the list.

OTOH the SOF-T Wide has some advantages over the CAT, it is easier to pack, easier to get around some limbs particularly trapped ones, but it can be hard to apply one handed.

That being said they could've just been replacing older generation with newer generations. The CAT is up to generation 7, and the SOF-T is on generation 4 now. Either way, don't buy them on Amazon or Ebay, too likely to get knock offs, get them from a quality medical supply house.

 

[gamon]

When seeking coverage for the Vessel, McCabe failed to disclose to GEICO Marine that he intended to operate the Vessel as a dive charter

• • • McCabe stated that the use of the Vessel would be for “private pleasure."

Thanks for posting that @Cert1967

I've been watching for updates and didn't see that one. It even says that Geico ASKED Dustin about the whole "only for pleasure" thing because they knew he ran a commercial charter operation and he said that this boat was not going to be used in his commercial charter business.

Bad news for the Flynn estate, and bad news for Dustin if he's got any assets.

I chartered his old boat once for a couple of days- I can only imagine if there was an incident- they could have come after me. And I've got assets.

 

[Cert1967]

I chartered his old boat once for a couple of days- I can only imagine if there was an incident- they could have come after me. And I've got assets.

Spot on.

Chartering a dive boat may well lead to personal liability exposure.

The fact set in this case is regrettable - more so for the dead person.

The lessons?

1. Take preventive actions - perhaps not diving with an op that backs up their boat to divers - that minimize or eliminate contact with the spinning propellers.
2. Chartering? Carefully consider, and get competent advice, on offsetting - to your risk tolerance - any potential adverse liability exposure.