Female Diver Broke Ankle at Blue Grotto

[DMDavid]

Forty bucks? Any wonder the joint looks like Hollywoodland.

Is Hollywoodland a good or bad thing?

 

[Saudi-Diver]

As a Scottish Diver who has had his fair share of interesting shore entries, stairs would be a little bit of luxury. I hope the lady concerned mends well and is back diving soon.

 

[RedCash02]

She fell on the stone portion, not the metal stairs shown. She was not wearing her fins, but had them in her hands/arms. For $40 per person, the steps should be in better condition.

Ahh, you're right I forgot about the stone steps at the top.

It's gone up to $40, huh? Guess you gotta pay for the novelty of the air bell. I love screaming over the reverberations of the compressor.

 

[diver 85]

Back in the day, training was a lot more rigorous. I remember tightrope walking the banisters in full equipment to perfect my balance--but agency standards have been so diluted, divers take the stairs these days. We were a lot fitter back then, too. A lot of us would just do a handspring over the steps and into the water, so breaking an ankle wasn't a risk.

You & Mike Nelson musta been quite a pair-------

 

[The Chairman]

They were working on those steps when I was there for the first (and last) time back in 2002. I have had my fair share of falls, including splitting an Achilles Tendon at Ginnie. The steps are a necessary evil to diving those kinds of places. I remember the first time I saw Devil's Den (70?). It wasn't called that and you had to take a rope down and back up. I passed on the experience.

 

[Ron Parker]

On both dives, dive buddy and I talked our dive plan, descended and ascended the stairs holding onto the rail. No problem.

I wish the diver a speed recovery.

 

[knowone]

Is Hollywoodland a good or bad thing?

Hollywoodland in LA is a bad thing.

Hollywoodland in this respect is a good thing because it looks like the bucks go somewhere but perhaps not far enough for the ankle lady.

 

[DandyDon]

She fell on the stone portion, not the metal stairs shown. She was not wearing her fins, but had them in her hands/arms. For $40 per person, the steps should be in better condition.

I think it's for sale, but he turned down two million I read.

The fee for Dos Ojos is cheaper with a nice ladder for the main hole. The Pit is a 30 ft drop, hoisting gear out by rope hoist and climbing the wall by rope after; you may not like it.

 

[Scubarus66]

Ouch!!That almost hurts as bad as the admission price.

Agree......

 

[John C. Ratliff]

Just so you'll know, the only value of the signed release is in preventing someone from trying to file a suit. You cannot sign away your rights. That said, I know nothing of the circumstances of this fall.

SeaRat

Is that so? Can you cite me some Florida case or statutory law that says that? OTOH, see Cutchin v. Habitat Curacao-Maduro Dive Fanta-Seas, Inc., 1999 A.M.C. 1377 (S.D.Fla.1999), where the court upheld a waiver.

I may be wrong here; but it is conditional and not absolute. Here's one decision from Arizona, which states that the case must be tried by a jury, and that a judge cannot decide such cases. This means that the defendent must convince a jury that the individual understood all the assumption of risk implications.

Here's another, applicable to Florida, which states:

Liability waiver laws do not remove all duties owed by property owners. Some claims remain actionable despite the waiver laws. A number of state statutes do not apply to negligent supervision3 or attractive nuisance.4 Most statutes specifically state that willful or malicious actions are not immune from liability.

In this case, because the private owner established the stairs specifically for a commercial use to access the dive area, there may be standards and practices for stairs that are implied that would not be covered by a waiver. Again, this is dependent upon the specific language of the waiver, the knowledge of the individual of the risks, etc. The risk of slipping on the stairs may not be considered a diving-related activity, as anyone could be using the stairs. But this is just my take on this, as I am not a lawyer-type individual.

SeaRat