Diver in California Sues for Being Left

[snturner]

The diver is underwater and the boat leaves. Was the diver some how steering the boat from underwater? Did the diver send a message to the surface and tell the captain or DM he was on board? How could this negligence be the divers fault? I vote for the diver. Not that much money though.

 

[pilot fish]

The diver is underwater and the boat leaves. Was the diver some how steering the boat from underwater? Did the diver send a message to the surface and tell the captain or DM he was on board? How could this negligence be the divers fault? I vote for the diver. Not that much money though.

Worst of all, he was marked IN and then marked OUT on the next dive. That is very daming for the Capt and crew. I, too, don't see it as a big case but that's not the important thing. It'll bring attention to the procedure of roll call on dive boats.

 

[RonFrank]

If this keeps up we won't be able to afford insurance

Wait, that is already in the works!! The USA has become sue happy with every little thing like burning ones mouth when drinking hot coffee, to blaming the bar for getting drunk, to unfortunately diving....

IMO the diver is NOT at fault even if I don't agree with his actions, and he should be compensated. The amount? Treatment for whatever conditions he now must deal with, maybe a few thousand for trama... anything beyond that IMO is greed.

Ron

$4,000,000 Huh. For what? This keeps up none of us will be able to afford diving any more.

 

[DEEPLOU]

I, too, don't see it as a big case

I think that depends on your perspective:

If you are looking out at an empty ocean from in the water;
or you are looking out at an empty ocean from the boat.

 

[bob1dp]

There is plenty of blame to go around.
Buddies who say you are on the boat when you are not.
Buddies that leave you behind in the in the water.
Diver for choosing idiots for buddies.
Dive master for not having eye contact with diver on check in.
The Captain is the one I feel for. He trusted the dive master to handle the dive properly.

 

[wolf eel]

[bob1dp
There is plenty of blame to go around.
Buddies who say you are on the boat when you are not.
Buddies that leave you behind in the in the water.
Diver for choosing idiots for buddies.
Dive master for not having eye contact with diver on check in.
The Captain is the one I feel for. He trusted the dive master to handle the dive properly.]

I agree with this completely. The divemaster did not do his job. He should be the one who is being questioned not the Captian. The problem is the blame would then be he hired a incompetent DM. And again that would some how be his fault. You would think the gross neglegents would fall on the DM because he checked the in and out box as protocol would require he forgot however that the diver had to be on the boat to be checked in and he had to see the diver leave the boat to be checked out.

 

[bob1dp]

Does the Captain hire the Dive Master or does the Dive Master hire the Boat.

Also. I have heard many stories about what happened. What is the most accurate report? I heard several divers, more then two, were on a boat dive and buddied together. Had they dove together or was this a group just on this dive? One diver was separated from his buddies. They did not notice he was missing from the group and surfaced. When the dive master did a roll call they said he was here and in the bathroom. Although they never surfaced with him or saw him on the boat. Roll call taken the boat went to the next dive spot. The lost diver surfaced to find there was no boat and swam to an abandoned oil rig where he hung on. The boat stops at the next spot and the group dive. Roll call after the second dive reveals a missing diver. A search of the second and wrong dive site is begun. A group of Sea Scouts happen by the oil rig 5 hours later and rescue lost dive. This is my idea of what happened from hearing stories no facts.

 

[wolf eel]

I had heard the same story. Thats bad. The DM must be clear if the diver is on the boat or not. There should never be any doubt. How hard can it be ask look and see. If anybody but the diver responds then you look around and find them. Its that simple. How anybody could not do that little bit while doing the bob in the ocean is neglegent to me.

 

[ironpaw2000]

The diver is underwater and the boat leaves. Was the diver some how steering the boat from underwater? Did the diver send a message to the surface and tell the captain or DM he was on board? How could this negligence be the divers fault? I vote for the diver. Not that much money though.

If the diver had followed protocol, he would have surfaced after searching for 1 MINUTE .. .that is what I have been taught, though I am not so sure about other dive agencies.

True, the negligence is not solely the divers. The brunt of the negligence must be on the shoulders of the Captain, DM and boat crew. However, they are not 100% to blame. Some of the blame must lay with the diver for not surfacing when his training should have yold him to do so.

Graham Wardell PADI SDI DM

 

[Chuck Tribolet]

The divemaster (who was an instructor) was hired by the shop
that chartered the boat.

The diver surfaced, could see the boat, but didn't try to swim to it.
He did NOT swim to the rig, he just drifted.

We need to separate punishment and benefit.

The DM should certainly be punished (and hasn't as near as I can
tell). Pulling his DM ticket for a year or two is approprate.

The buddies should certainly be punished (if indeed they knew
they were the Drifting Dan's buddies, that's not 100% clear).

The diver deserves to benefit, maybe: he lost a few hours, he
ditched a weight belt, he didn't get to do the second dive he paid
for. But he screwed up several times, so that's about a reak-even.
Certainly not $4M. I wonder how much Reader's Digest paid him?
(Question: was the RD's "Drama in Real Life" series? Back when I
was a kid and lived at home and my mom got RD, I always
thought the "heroes" in "Drama in Real Life" were screwups who
happened to survive their own mistakes.)