Judge rules-Abandoned diver can sue charter company

[Teamcasa]

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A ScubaBoard Staff Message...

Please stay on topic..

The topic of this thread is: Can you sue (in California) for being left behind. A California judge says yes. ....

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[Riger]

Is the diving community at large safer because the risk of litigation due to negligence on the part of Dive Operators and their crew is being publicized?

If you answer yes, then what is the price to possibly prevent one or more deaths in the coming years?

One guy may make more than he deserves, one guy may loose more than is fair but, the whole diving community has just scored.

These are, as always just my opinions.

Best Regards
Richard (Riger)

 

[Airborne!]

I am a firm believer that American society has gotten so litigious to make civil court unrecognizable to any of the founding fathers or earlier. However, I do believe that there are legitimate cases out there and this is one of them. The tort system can change the way segments of the country perform daily tasks and although I still laugh at the "Warning! HOT!" label on the top of my carry out coffee there is a very specific case that precipitated that addition. If suing one dive charter company in California and WINNING means that all dive boats know they are vulnerable to a lawsuit if they don't follow good roll call procedures than I think that's a good thing. You can't legislate common sense, but you can make people do the right thing against their will.
Rachel

The above quote is a thing of beauty. I just have to add that one to my collection. How true it is.

 

[Thalassamania]

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Your insurance rates are so high because insurance companies can charge anything they want.

And they manipulate their profit/loss calculations with a completely mythical item known as the "contingency reserve." This is money put aside to meet claims that the company "expects" to have to pay. Whenever they appear a bit too profitable to the regulators, it goes into the contingency reserve until the heat is off and then ... "oh gee, I guess we overestimated!"

 

[fairybasslet]

You can't legislate common sense, but you can make people do the right thing against their will.The above quote is a thing of beauty. I just have to add that one to my collection. How true it is.

Except, of course, when it comes to teenagers.

 

[lmorin]

How much is his life worth? 4 hrs is ample time to be severely sunburned. Not saying the $4 million is what should be sought in this case, but if he develops a melanoma because of the sunburn, then perhaps it is appropriate. CancerHelp UK

Research has looked into the link between sunburn and melanoma. Sunburn definately increases the risk of melanoma. People with melanoma are twice as likely to have been badly sunburned at least once in their lives. The risk is higher if you have had sunburn several times in your life. Sunburn in childhood is even more damaging than sunburn as an adult.

 

[Tom Winters]

I'm amazed the case has gotten this far. He was likely offered a worthy fraction of the total amount to settle since the dive op's position appears to be entirely indefensible.
$4,000,000 for 4 hours and a sunburn does seem a little excessive though, but he and his attorneys must smell victory in the air.

 

[Clammy]

Hmm.. about the sunburn... we all dive in SoCal with full suits, gloves, booties, and hoods.... if you kept your mask on... how much of you would actually be exposed enough to get sunburned? I'm not saying it wasn't bad... I'm just saying, what are we talking, a quarter of the face?

 

[Thalassamania]

What usually happens in these cases is the defense council makes a few extra bucks by painting a rosy picture about how they are going to get the case thrown out. It rarely gets thrown out, so I wonder why the insurers keep falling for that. So until the judge said that the case should go forward, no one was likely making offers, they expected it to go away. Settlement offers will either be made soon, or may wait for the proverbial courtroom steps.

 

[Jim Ernst]

If he incurred physician bills or missed work because of his hypothermia, dehydration, and/or sunburn, then it is certainly reasonable to ask for economic damages to make him 'whole' again. However, the amount of money this guy is asking for just stinks of greed. This is why the whole idea of non-economic damages for 'pain and suffering' is ludicrous and undermines the very ideals under which the tort system was founded
Just my 0.02

I have to say I agree with you!

Yes if it had been me left out there... Yes I would have been scared of not being found, I would have been Pissed.

I also would have been one very happy person to be rescued and would be greatfull.

But $4 million I dont think so that is very much greed!

As someone else said.... It was 4 hours not four day's .... Yeesh!!