Diver Died In West Palm Beach, Fl.

[imwright1985]

I've been diving that area almost every weekend for 20 years and have worked for charter boats as a DM for hundreds of trips in West Palm. The owner/operator of Narcosis is extremely irresponsible and reckless in the manner in which he operates the vessel. I have personally seen him endanger divers and I have spoken with the capt. Van about it in considerable detail. Amazingly he is even ignorant of the dive flag laws of Florida.

I have no information that would lead me to believe that this death was directly associated with unsafe or reckless operation of the vessel, but I would NOT be diving with that operator.

It is a shame too, because it is a very nice vessel, but the capt. has not owned it for very long. The previous operator (capt. Ray) was super expeirenced and a great guy.

From what i have seen of the narcosis on other boats it looks as though they run fine, other than that I have no personal experience. I rarely dive charters because alot of my friends have boats. There are a couple charters i have seen put our divers in danger that i would never dive because of that and i have persued turning them into BBB and any other organization i can. I havent heard any complaints from my friends that have dove it either so my observations of it are as a spectator from another boat, and from friends experiences. Depending on when your experiences with Narcosis being bad were maby the capt has wised up or they got a different captain.

It could also be that my friends arnt as critical of the safety issues you noticed too

 

[Grounded]

My curiosity got the better of me, and I got a copy of the complaint.

I've posted it here if any one else is interested.

Unless filed under seal, court pleadings are considered public records, so the parties to this case do not have a reasonable expectation of privacy in this document.

Generally, it looks like all of the allegations are non-specific and fall in to the catagory of "somebody died, so it must be someone else's fault." No specific negligent act is alleged against any of the parties (including the boat, itself). I note that the allegations against each of the parties identifies the duty to inspect the tank. I wonder if that was an issue here, or whether the guy who drafted the complaint threw everything he could imagine against the wall to see what would stick.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

WOW, I scanned that document quickly. Now a dive boat is obligated to test all the equipment a certified diver is using and to also insure that they know how to use it?????? What is wrong with people?

As for some of the other people's comments aboout my earlier post... I am a troll for telling people I have personally observed the capt engage in reckless and irresponsible behavoir and at the same time I am responsible for the lady's untimely death because it appears I did not tell people about my observations soon enough... guess i just can't win.

People need to realize that even the best run dive boat is going to end up loosing a diver sooner or later. I've had to drag a dead diver onto the deck of a charter boat myself.

The fact that this lady died while diving from the vessel Narcosis is not evidence of negligence. However, I have personally witness willingly negligent actions on the part of the capt while operating the vessel.

 

[openmindOW]

Generally, it looks like all of the allegations are non-specific and fall in to the catagory of "somebody died, so it must be someone else's fault."

Negligence complaints are often general when filed. Specific facts become known during the "discovey" process, which includes subpoensa and depositions.

No specific negligent act is alleged against any of the parties (including the boat, itself). I note that the allegations against each of the parties identifies the duty to inspect the tank. I wonder if that was an issue here, or whether the guy who drafted the complaint threw everything he could imagine against the wall to see what would stick.

The tank issue is interesting.

Plaitiff's attorneys usually have to throw everything aginst the wall, because they don't want to miss anything. If they fail to note something in a complaint that they should have, then the compaint can possibly be dismissed. (And then the attorney might get sued or disciplined for malpractice.)

 

[Scott L]

WOW, I scanned that document quickly. Now a dive boat is obligated to test all the equipment a certified diver is using and to also insure that they know how to use it?????? What is wrong with people?

As for some of the other people's comments aboout my earlier post... I am a troll for telling people I have personally observed the capt engage in reckless and irresponsible behavoir and at the same time I am responsible for the lady's untimely death because it appears I did not tell people about my observations soon enough... guess i just can't win.

People need to realize that even the best run dive boat is going to end up loosing a diver sooner or later. I've had to drag a dead diver onto the deck of a charter boat myself.

The fact that this lady died while diving from the vessel Narcosis is not evidence of negligence. However, I have personally witness willingly negligent actions on the part of the capt while operating the vessel.

I do not agree with the troll allegations leveled at you in this thread and respect your many quality posts of the past. Perhaps you can send a PM to myself and/or Deepstops if he so desires with information related to your allegations. To be fair, I have only dived with the charter once (see my post #117) on a fairly rough day (4-6ft) six months ago and setout the second dive joining the captain on the bridge to assist with locating SMB's/divers. The captain/owner was extremely engaged, animated and fanactical in his desire to recover the divers safely from the rough seas. He severely chastised one on-board crewman for not moving quickly enough with throwing out line and float to recover two divers linked together in rescue mode due to an OOA situation. As a matter of fact, the captain recognized the situation before the pair even broke the surface. Check-out his credentials on his web-site. The man is a true mariner not a beer guzzling boat driver like so many in the industry.

 

[Grounded]

Negligence complaints are often general when filed. Specific facts become known during the "discovey" process, which includes subpoensa and depositions.

While this is true to an extent, in state court, Florida is not a "notice pleading" jurisdiction. Each of the elements of the cause of action (and an affirmative defense, if raised) needs to be pled with specificity. My first thought was that this complaint may be subject to dismissal because it doesn't allege the manner in which the parties breached the purported duties. Strategically though, a dismissal doesn't accomplish much because it's almost always without prejudice, and gives the plaintiff a chance to refine his allegations.

Looking at the "navigable waters" allegations, I wonder if the attorney who drafted the complaint was originally considering filing in federal court (which does allow notice pleadings).

If I had to guess, he chose state court because the district courts in the southern district of florida will grant summary judgment (specifically, I'm thinking of the waiver/release defense that will certainly be raised). In Palm Beach County, there is ample case law that says that it is error to grant summary judgment in a negligence case because negligence is always a jury question.

If I was defending this case, I think I would try to remove to federal court...

 

[Tom Winters]

Things like this case were always my biggest fear in the years I did dive charters in Hawaii. I knew all the guys who killed people out there, and later on in Florida, I met the industry attorneys who handled a few of the cases. I never wanted to deal with any of this stuff, and there were times I had to really the envelope to make sure nothing happened.
For some arcane reason, I never had any problems upon surfacing with all the thousands of people who cycled through my programs. I had some real boneheads, and a few people whom I would have gladly removed from society if I had thought about it a little more, but nothing EMS had to respond to.
I read the thing that Counselor Grounded linked to. The case seems a little specious to me, but the industry guys like to shuffle these things right out of existence.
It's too bad the lady died - tough for her kids to deal with. I failed to see the merits of their case, but they'll surely get something out of it.

 

[deepstops]

I do not agree with the troll allegations leveled at you in this thread and respect your many quality posts of the past. Perhaps you can send a PM to myself and/or Deepstops if he so desires with information related to your allegations. To be fair, I have only dived from boat once (see my post #117) on a fairly rough day (4-6) six months ago and setout the second dive joining the captain on the bridge to assist with locating SMB's/divers. The captain/owner was extremely engaged, animated and fanactical in his desire to recover the divers safely from the rough seas. He severely chastised one on-board mate for not moving quickly enough with throwing out line to recover two divers linked together in rescue mode due to an OOA situation. As a matter of fact, the captain recognized the situation before the pair even broke the surface. Check-out his credentials on his web-site. The man is a true mariner not a beer guzzling boat driver like so many in the industry.

I don't care what DD posts here, if he saw real evidence Capt. Blakeman endangering other divers or vessels, he should notified the USCG. Otherwise he's a troll.

Let's just say DD isn't first person I've seen say "I saw so-and-so and they almost ran us down and killed us" and EVERY time I've seen it, it's turned out to be utter B>S once the story from captain or the other divers on the boat gets broadcast.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

I don't care what DD posts here, if he saw real evidence Capt. Blakeman endangering other divers or vessels, he should notified the USCG. Otherwise he's a troll.

Let's just say DD isn't first person I've seen say "I saw so-and-so and they almost ran us down and killed us" and EVERY time I've seen it, it's turned out to be utter B>S once the story from captain or the other divers on the boat gets broadcast.

Apparently,you have no direct knowledge of the incident that I was involved in, yet you seem to be questioning the truthfulness of my statements. Have you utilized any information other than my post to arrive at this conclusion? In other words, do you have ANY reason to question me other than the story sounds "funny"?


I am happy to report, that based on your definition..I'm not a troll !!!

I actually DID contact the USCG in Miami. They were VERY interested in it. However, after some pretty extensive discussions with them, it became apparent that I needed another USCG certified capt to also file a complaint as a coroborating sp? witness. Although the other capt, DID witness the incident, did admit to me that his actions were completely reckless, however she was unwilling to go on record to file a formal complaint with the Miami Sector. It is a small community and I can understand why she would not stick her neck out in this situation.

I then decided the best way to handle the situation was to speak directly to the captain, (which I did). Many people witnessed this interaction and I suspect that it left somewhat of an impression on them.

I also decided that I would let other people know about the grossly reckless actions of the captain of the NARCOSIS vessel. I have no connection to any other dive operation and I challenge anyone to identify a valid reason why I would go out of my way to make false claims in this instance.

There are many other operators in the local area that do the same dives and provide the same services, so people can make their own decisions as to what business is to their liking. I will repeat, that I have no information that would lead me to believe that this fatal accident was associated with reckless or negligent operation of the vessel.

 

[deepstops]

Describe the incident that took place that demonstrated "completely and grossly reckless actions". Dates, the name of who you spoke with at USCG Miami, and witness names will add credibility.