Diver Dead in South Florida

[Cert1967]

The personal side of the tragedy. Mollie Ghiz-Flynn and her husband Sean Flynn.

The photo was provided to The Palm Beach Post by Sean Flynn. Sean was the second diver pulled under the boat according to the article.

The second diver referenced in the headline perished in an unrelated incident.

Mollie Ghiz-Flynn, 37, was killed at about 10 a.m. Sunday, FWC said. The 48-foot commercial dive boat Southern Comfort was about 1½ miles southeast of the Palm Beach Inlet and divers were returning to it, when Ghiz-Flynn and a second diver were pulled under the boat.​

Two killed Sunday in Palm Beach County boat incidents

 

[coldwaterglutton]

Reading the Geico action looks like the charter was operated outside the policy. I assume the charter will wait until a verdict and then file for bankruptcy. Luckily Florida still has an unlimited homestead exemption.

 

[gamon]

Reading the Geico action looks like the charter was operated outside the policy. I assume the charter will wait until a verdict and then file for bankruptcy. Luckily Florida still has an unlimited homestead exemption.

From what I understand, the Florida homestead exemption pertains to property taxes.

If he's being sued personally how will bankruptcy protect his personal assets?

I still can't get over the greed and dishonesty that he showed by intentionally insuring the boat as "for pleasure" while putting everyone ELSE at potentially high liability -especially those who pay thousands to charter his boat like I did - just to keep his own premiums low. In a way that's worse than accidentally backing over a diver (if that's what happened).

 

[Barnaby'sDad]

From what I understand, the Florida homestead exemption pertains to property taxes.

If he's being sued personally how will bankruptcy protect his personal assets?

I still can't get over the greed and dishonesty that he showed by intentionally insuring the boat as "for pleasure" while putting everyone ELSE at potentially high liability -especially those who pay thousands to charter his boat like I did - just to keep his own premiums low. In a way that's worse than accidentally backing over a diver (if that's what happened).

Given the way he was operating the boat (both on water practices and ignoring local Covid precautions)...I’m not sure why his failing to insure the boat properly comes as a surprise.

If someone makes a habit of flouting one or more safety practices, you can bet that’s not the only thing they’re lax on.

 

[Cert1967]

From what I understand, the Florida homestead exemption pertains to property taxes.

Bankruptcy - Exempt Property in Florida - Ayo and Iken

Florida? Perhaps the best state in the USA for debtor protection in BK

 

[Jcp2]

Endorsed by OJ.

 

[DandyDon]

Lawsuit alleges dive boat backed over woman off Palm Beach, fatally slicing legs

A dive operator using a larger, two-engine boat for the third time backed over a client's legs off Palm Beach, and the Space Coast woman bled to death before she could get to help, her widower contends in a new lawsuit.
The lawsuit was filed Friday in U.S. District Court by Sean Flynn of Melbourne in the March 29 death of his wife, Mollie Ghiz-Flynn, 37.

It names Florida Scuba Charters and owners Dustin and Kristy McCabe, as well as Safe Harbor North Palm Beach, the corporate parent of the North Palm Beach marina. Efforts to reach the McCabes for comment were unsuccessful.

According to the lawsuit, the incident occurred March 29 as the dive boat was about 1½ miles southeast of the Palm Beach Inlet at a popular diving spot called Breakers Reef, just off the coast from the Palm Beach hotel for which it's named.

coronavirus pandemic. The suit says the marina should not have facilitated the dive.

The marina's general manager, Josh Stieb, said Friday he had not yet seen the lawsuit and so could not comment.

Stieb told The Post shortly after the incident that some dive operators were able to cite an exemption for commercial fishermen, because their divers also caught fish and they had state licenses for that. He said at the time he was familiar with Florida Scuba Charters only in passing.

Sean Flynn said July 30 that he and his wife had been married for three years. He said the two were managers of a Melbourne-area landscaping supply store.

Flynn, 41, said he’d dived since he was 18 and that his wife had picked up the avocation about four years earlier.

Asked why the couple came down to North Palm Beach, about 100 miles from their home, he said Ghiz-Flynn “was a creature of habit.” She said McCabe had been captain of the boat she was on when she was certified.

Flynn said he didn't want to tell the story of his wife’s death again, both because of the pending suit and because it was just too emotional.

He did say: "She had the biggest heart of anybody I ever met. She would do anything for anybody if she could."

 

[gamon]

According to the lawsuit

- The victim was under the influence of marijuana and amphetamines. Irresponsible! May weaken the lawsuit. The attorneys (who are also suing the marina -deeper pockets-) contend that the drugs had nothing to do with the accident. Well of course they're going to say that!
- The victim was no longer bleeding when pulled out of the water despite chop wounds to her legs from the propeller. I wonder how this could be, did she bleed out or when a victim drowns and the heart stops does blood stop flowing?
- The Captain put the boat in reverse and ran over the divers. Someone (presumably from the boat crew) told investigators that a big wave lifted the boat and swept the divers under it (nice try).
- The incident happened on the second day and only the third dive trip that Dustin was operating the boat after having recently purchased it, and on the previous day he had a lot of trouble maneuvering it and one diver was swept towards the moving props but used a speargun to push away. The boat was apparently damaged when due to difficulty handing it, it ran aground near a fuel dock station.
- Several who were present on day one begged Dustin not to go out the next day until the boat was properly repaired and he had gained more experience with it.

 

[Manatee Diver]

- The victim was no longer bleeding when pulled out of the water despite chop wounds to her legs from the propeller. I wonder how this could be, did she bleed out or when a victim drowns and the heart stops does blood stop flowing?

She was dead. A femoral artery bleeds can result in death due to blood loss very quickly minutes.

I was taught that if you see a massive hemorrhage and the victim doesn't have a heart beat triage them as expectant/dead.

ETA: Now if she was alive when they pulled her aboard, the body's shock response to massive trauma can cause minimal blood to flow out. And that once the body relaxes you will see major bleed. And we are told to tourniquet severed limbs even if there is minimal blood loss at the time. Assuming the victim is alive.

 

[Barnaby'sDad]

According to the lawsuit

- The victim was under the influence of marijuana and amphetamines. Irresponsible! May weaken the lawsuit. The attorneys (who are also suing the marina -deeper pockets-) contend that the drugs had nothing to do with the accident. Well of course they're going to say that!
- The victim was no longer bleeding when pulled out of the water despite chop wounds to her legs from the propeller. I wonder how this could be, did she bleed out or when a victim drowns and the heart stops does blood stop flowing?
- The Captain put the boat in reverse and ran over the divers. Someone (presumably from the boat crew) told investigators that a big wave lifted the boat and swept the divers under it (nice try).
- The incident happened on the second day and only the third dive trip that Dustin was operating the boat after having recently purchased it, and on the previous day he had a lot of trouble maneuvering it and one diver was swept towards the moving props but used a speargun to push away. The boat was apparently damaged when due to difficulty handing it, it ran aground near a fuel dock station.
- Several who were present on day one begged Dustin not to go out the next day until the boat was properly repaired and he had gained more experience with it.

Given what happened the day before...I doubt that a jury is going to concern themselves too much with the toxicology report. If he didn’t kill the victim that day, it was going to be someone else on another day, as he clearly hadn’t learned from the first incident.

He never should have taken the boat out that day. Period.