I guess this was inevitable.

[WannaLaguna]

From the article:

>Carlock's attorney, Scott P. Koepke, said his client hoped the suit would ensure that >no other Southern California divers go through what he suffered.

>"He thought about it a lot and realized he could not live with himself if two or three >years from now somebody floats up dead from the same situation, and he did >nothing about it," Koepke said.

So he's doing this to protect US? How thoughtful. That means if he wins, he'll be donating the 4 mil to diver/boater safety programs, right?

Hmmmm to me it sounds like he wasn't very prepared for an emergency situation?! No whistle on his BC? no mention of a safety sausage deployment? The first rule of scuba is self rescue.

It appears that he should take quite a bit of the blame himself. What's the rule:

stop, breath, think, act.....where does sue come in??

Of course the dive buddy, dm, captain and company are also negligent for lying about the divers last known whereabouts. It's a shame. A simple role call on the boat could have saved allot of people allot of headaches....and radiation therapy it seems?!?!?!

 

[Ann Marie]

I just love it when people can't take responsibility for their own actions.

HELLO, if the boat knew where he was then they wouldn't have left him! Of course they gave the Coast Guard the wrong information, HE WAS LOST! If they knew where he was then he would be FOUND!

I love that he can pinpoint the day when he got skin cancer! Cool..he should go on the road!

I do feel that he DM and Captain have some responsibility but Dan needs to take some responsibility too. I can understand the mental anguish, but you can't blame them for skin cancer. Heck, he lives in California (we certainly don't live here for the rain!), the SUNSHINE state!

Maybe we can all chip in and get him a whistle, signal mirror, safety sausage.......oh wait, he is going to be a millionare soon. Lets invite him to Chamber Day, if he really wants to help divers he can make a donation then!

 

[DvrRick]

Putting the lawsuit aside, I want to know what sort of procedures this dive boat are used to make sure all divers are on board before they leave a sight. Strict policies should be followed for head counts by the boat crew. I am not advocating more laws, regulations, departments of redundency departments etc. Just the boat companies deciding that counting people before they leave is actually a good idea.

 

[jonnythan]

What am I missing? Sounds like his buddy never said anything to the boat crew, then lied about him making it to dive 2, and his buddy is completely at fault.

 

[Humuhumunukunukuapua'a]

Heck, he lives in California (we certainly don't live here for the rain!), the SUNSHINE state!

Isn't that Florida?

J/K
:fro:

 

[ScubaSeanMaui]

The diver didn't pay his buddy to dive on the boat, he paid the company that owns the boat. Everything else aside, the boat should make sure it has the same # of people after the dive as it had before the dive. They definitely are responsible for his safety to and from the sites, and they failed bigtime. This situation is a good reason not to buddy up with strangers on any boat. Bring the stage bottle if you are diving alone, or go with the DM if they have one. Maybe this will lead to some standards for head counts on boats! I know I'd hate to be left by a diveboat. They have insurance, so they'll have to pay!

Sean

What am I missing? Sounds like his buddy never said anything to the boat crew, then lied about him making it to dive 2, and his buddy is completely at fault.

 

[jonnythan]

The diver didn't pay his buddy to dive on the boat, he paid the company that owns the boat. Everything else aside, the boat should make sure it has the same # of people after the dive as it had before the dive. They definitely are responsible for his safety to and from the sites, and they failed bigtime. This situation is a good reason not to buddy up with strangers on any boat. Bring the stage bottle if you are diving alone, or go with the DM if they have one. Maybe this will lead to some standards for head counts on boats! I know I'd hate to be left by a diveboat. They have insurance, so they'll have to pay!

Sean

That sounds completely reasonable, I was exaggerating by saying the buddy is completely at fault. I was wondering why everyone thinks the diver who got left behind is at fault. What did he do wrong?

 

[ChrisM]

Why does everyone think there are no standards? Of course there are. From all accounts, there was a roll call on this dive (has anyone ever been on a local boat where there was not some sort of roll call/verification after dives? I sure haven't), and the DM screwed the pooch on the roll call. I have been on this boat a number of times, both charter ajnd open, and there has ALWAYS been a roll call. As I understand it, Capt. was not advised until the DM decided to fess up (buddy didn't say anything either.....) I assume you all know how California dive boats work when a dive shop charters a boat, so I won't address that (boat does not hire DMs, etc etc).

Appears Dan did not follow the plan for this dive. Accdg to some acounts when he lost his buddy he stayed down for 10 minutes in blue water. Had he come up according to "industry stds" he would not have drifted. Note also -- had the roll call been done "right" he still would have drifted. He surface 10 - 15 minutes into the dive. Say dive is 45 minutes. By the time everyone is on the boat and geared down, roll call done, we are looking at, what, an hour after he surfaces? Still drifting, just not as far. He is not blameless in this. Hopefully, that will be taken into account however this reolves

IMHO, the people that are liable to any degree are (in order of appearance)
Dan
Buddy
DM

Chris

 

[DvrRick]

I have limited experience with boat dives (only 2 here in CA) but on one of them the roll call was very lax. They called out evryones names and they answered (good) if the person was not on deck someone else answered for them (bad). Ex. Jack? Here! Lisa? Here! Dave? Dave? Oh, he's down below. and then they move on to the next. I was a little disturbed by this but being new thought this was how it was done.

 

[Humuhumunukunukuapua'a]

I was wondering why everyone thinks the diver who got left behind is at fault. What did he do wrong?

Yeah, this attitude has suprised me, too. I would think if there's one thing we can agree on, it's that it would suck to be left floating in 55 degree water for 5 hours. Is it because he's suing for so much? The silly skin cancer part seems to have tweaked people, too.

I have never even thought about suing someone, but if you can't bother to do a head count and leave me floating in the middle of the ocean, I'll probably sue you too.

Gregg