Legal liability of dive buddy

[Eric Sedletzky]

[SIZE=+0]Proof of entitlement mentality...
It's time again for the annual "Stella Awards"! For those unfamiliar with
these awards, they are named after 81-year-old Stella Liebeck who spilled
hot coffee on herself and successfully sued the McDonald's in New Mexico
where she purchased the coffee. You remember, she took the lid off the
coffee and put it between her knees while she was driving. Who would ever
think one could get burned doing that, right?

That's right; these are awards for the most outlandish lawsuits and
verdicts in the U.S. You know, the kinds of cases that make you[/SIZE]
[SIZE=+0][/SIZE][SIZE=+0][/SIZE][SIZE=+0]scratch your head.So keep your head scratcher handy. Here are[/SIZE]

[SIZE=+0][/SIZE][SIZE=+0][/SIZE][SIZE=+0]the Stella's for the past year:

7TH PLACE:
Kathleen Robertson of Austin, Texas was awarded $80,000 by a jury of her
peers after breaking her ankle tripping over a toddler who was running
inside a furniture store. The store owners were understandably surprised by
the verdict, considering the running toddler was her own son.

6TH PLACE:
Carl Truman, 19, of Los Angeles, California won $74,000 plus medical
expenses when his neighbor ran over his hand with a Honda Accord. Truman
apparently didn't notice there was someone at the wheel of the car when he
was trying to steal his neighbor's hubcaps.

5TH PLACE:
Terrence Dickson, of Bristol, Pennsylvania, who was leaving a house he had
just burglarized by way of the garage. Unfortunately for Dickson, the
automatic garage door opener malfunctioned and he could not get the garage
door to open. Worse, he couldn't re-enter the house because the door
connecting the garage to the house locked when Dickson pulled it shut.
Forced to sit for eight, count 'em, EIGHT, days on a case of Pepsi and a
large bag of dry dog food, he sued the homeowner's insurance company
claiming undue mental Anguish.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=+0][/SIZE][SIZE=+0][/SIZE][SIZE=+0]Amazingly, the jury said the insurance company must pay Dickson $500,000
for his anguish. We should all have this kind of anguish.

4TH PLACE:
Jerry Williams, of Little Rock , Arkansas , garnered 4th Place in the
Stella's when he was awarded $14,500 plus medical expenses after being
bitten on the butt by his next door neighbor's beagle - even though the
beagle was on a chain in its owner's fenced yard. Williams did not get as
much as he asked for because the jury believed the beagle might have been
provoked at the time of the butt bite because Williams had climbed over the
fence into the yard and repeatedly shot the dog with a pellet gun.

3RD PLACE:
Amber Carson of Lancaster, Pennsylvania because a jury ordered a
Philadelphia restaurant to pay her $113,500 after she slipped on a spilled
soft drink and broke her tailbone. The reason the soft drink was on the
floor: Ms. Carson had thrown it at her boyfriend 30 seconds earlier during
an argument. What ever happened to people being responsible for their own
actions?

2ND PLACE:
Kara Walton, of Claymont, Delaware sued the owner of a night club in a
nearby city because she fell from the bathroom window to the floor,
knocking out her two front teeth. Even though Ms. Walton was[/SIZE]

[SIZE=+0][/SIZE][SIZE=+0][/SIZE][SIZE=+0]trying to sneak through the ladies room window to avoid paying the[/SIZE]

[SIZE=+0][/SIZE][SIZE=+0][/SIZE][SIZE=+0]$3.50 cover charge, the jury said the night club had to pay her[/SIZE]

[SIZE=+0][/SIZE][SIZE=+0][/SIZE][SIZE=+0]$12,000....oh, yeah, plus dental expenses.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=+0][/SIZE][SIZE=+0][/SIZE][SIZE=+0]Go figure.

1ST PLACE: (May I have a fanfare played on 50 kazoos please)
This year's runaway First Place Stella Award winner was Mrs. Merv
Grazinski,of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, who purchased a new 32-foot Winnebago motor home. On her first trip home, from an OU football game, having driven on to
the freeway, she set the cruise control at 70 mph and calmly left the
driver's seat to go to the back of the Winnebago to make herself a
sandwich.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=+0][/SIZE][SIZE=+0][/SIZE][SIZE=+0]
Not surprisingly, the motor home left the freeway, crashed and overturned.
Also not surprisingly, Mrs. Grazinski sued Winnebago for not putting in the
owner's manual that she couldn't actually leave the driver's seat while the
cruise control was set. The Oklahoma jury awarded her, are you sitting
down,...$1,750,000 PLUS a new motor home.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=+0][/SIZE][SIZE=+0][/SIZE][SIZE=+0]Winnebago actually changed their manuals as a result of this suit,[/SIZE]

[SIZE=+0][/SIZE][SIZE=+0][/SIZE][SIZE=+0]just in case Mrs. Grazinski has any relatives who
might also buy a motor home



So in light of the above list I found doing a search, It doesn't seem far fetched at all to be sued by a dive buddy, or just someone else on the beach that might be diving at the same time, or perhaps someone you looked at wrong.[/SIZE]

 

[RIteen]

You are right, anybody can sue for anything. However, generally speaking judges have a particular sense of humour in regards to person-against-person cases..

As for the butt biting, I'd have pressed criminal charges against the guy who was bit.... he was trespassing....

 

[vladimir]

[SIZE=+0]Proof of entitlement mentality...
It's time again for the annual "Stella Awards"! For those unfamiliar with
these awards, they are named after 81-year-old Stella Liebeck who spilled
hot coffee on herself and successfully sued the McDonald's in New Mexico
where she purchased the coffee. You remember, she took the lid off the
coffee and put it between her knees while she was driving. Who would ever
think one could get burned doing that, right?

That's right; these are awards for the most outlandish lawsuits and
verdicts in the U.S. You know, the kinds of cases that make you[/SIZE]
[SIZE=+0]scratch your head.So keep your head scratcher handy. Here are[/SIZE]

[SIZE=+0]the Stella's for the past year:

7TH PLACE:
Kathleen Robertson of Austin, Texas was awarded $80,000 by a jury of her
peers after breaking her ankle tripping over a toddler who was running
inside a furniture store. The store owners were understandably surprised by
the verdict, considering the running toddler was her own son.

6TH PLACE:
Carl Truman, 19, of Los Angeles, California won $74,000 plus medical
expenses when his neighbor ran over his hand with a Honda Accord. Truman
apparently didn't notice there was someone at the wheel of the car when he
was trying to steal his neighbor's hubcaps.

5TH PLACE:Terrence Dickson, of Bristol, Pennsylvania, who was leaving a house he had
just burglarized by way of the garage. Unfortunately for Dickson, the
automatic garage door opener malfunctioned and he could not get the garage
door to open. Worse, he couldn't re-enter the house because the door
connecting the garage to the house locked when Dickson pulled it shut.
Forced to sit for eight, count 'em, EIGHT, days on a case of Pepsi and a
large bag of dry dog food, he sued the homeowner's insurance company
claiming undue mental Anguish.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=+0]Amazingly, the jury said the insurance company must pay Dickson $500,000
for his anguish. We should all have this kind of anguish.

4TH PLACE:Jerry Williams, of Little Rock , Arkansas , garnered 4th Place in the
Stella's when he was awarded $14,500 plus medical expenses after being
bitten on the butt by his next door neighbor's beagle - even though the
beagle was on a chain in its owner's fenced yard. Williams did not get as
much as he asked for because the jury believed the beagle might have been
provoked at the time of the butt bite because Williams had climbed over the
fence into the yard and repeatedly shot the dog with a pellet gun.

3RD PLACE:
Amber Carson of Lancaster, Pennsylvania because a jury ordered a
Philadelphia restaurant to pay her $113,500 after she slipped on a spilled
soft drink and broke her tailbone. The reason the soft drink was on the
floor: Ms. Carson had thrown it at her boyfriend 30 seconds earlier during
an argument. What ever happened to people being responsible for their own
actions?

2ND PLACE:Kara Walton, of Claymont, Delaware sued the owner of a night club in a
nearby city because she fell from the bathroom window to the floor,
knocking out her two front teeth. Even though Ms. Walton was[/SIZE]

[SIZE=+0]trying to sneak through the ladies room window to avoid paying the[/SIZE]

[SIZE=+0]$3.50 cover charge, the jury said the night club had to pay her[/SIZE]

[SIZE=+0]$12,000....oh, yeah, plus dental expenses.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=+0]Go figure.

1ST PLACE: (May I have a fanfare played on 50 kazoos please)
This year's runaway First Place Stella Award winner was Mrs. Merv
Grazinski,of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, who purchased a new 32-foot Winnebago motor home. On her first trip home, from an OU football game, having driven on to
the freeway, she set the cruise control at 70 mph and calmly left the
driver's seat to go to the back of the Winnebago to make herself a
sandwich.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=+0]
Not surprisingly, the motor home left the freeway, crashed and overturned.
Also not surprisingly, Mrs. Grazinski sued Winnebago for not putting in the
owner's manual that she couldn't actually leave the driver's seat while the
cruise control was set. The Oklahoma jury awarded her, are you sitting
down,...$1,750,000 PLUS a new motor home.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=+0]Winnebago actually changed their manuals as a result of this suit,[/SIZE]

[SIZE=+0]just in case Mrs. Grazinski has any relatives who
might also buy a motor home



So in light of the above list I found doing a search, It doesn't seem far fetched at all to be sued by a dive buddy, or just someone else on the beach that might be diving at the same time, or perhaps someone you looked at wrong.[/SIZE]

Please, exercise a little skepticism. It took me 60 seconds of research to find these cases are all fabricated.

Decidedly NOT the Stellas - the True Stella Awards

 

[RIteen]

^ A-doy.. I thought maybe they all just got the same over zealous judge.... lol... In fiction anything can happen!

 

[jimmy71]

Please, exercise a little skepticism. It took me 60 seconds of research to find these cases are all fabricated.

Decidedly NOT the Stellas - the True Stella Awards

LMAO. Thanks for that......... to funny. Can we sue for false statements?

 

[jimlux]

Interesting paper cited in the early post. One might ask what sort of liability issues arise in other "buddy" activities: I'm thinking rock climbing or moutaineering in general. In rock climbing, the dependence on your partner/belayer is more than on a diving buddy; that is, you depend on your belayer to actively keep you from plunging to your death or injury.

 

[jimmy71]

That is beyond my knowledge base. BTW welcome to scubaboards!

 

[furby076]

I am sure each country, state, and county have their own laws (or not) and it can be extreme to expect someone to know each of these laws but there should be "common sense" involved. As a buddy you should make an effort to help out your buddy (insta-buddy or otherwise) assuming it doesn't put you in danger. Meaning if your buddy decided to drop to 200 feet because he saw a cool fish, while you are only diving to 110 feet then you don't need to follow the person. If the buddy get's injured while down there you are not required to put your life in danger to go down there. Now if your buddy is next to you and you can easily help them (assuming your buddy is not thrashing with a knife in hand) then yea you are obligated to do so. I am sure someone will think of a break-scenario, but the point is - use common sense. Also put yourself in the place of the buddy. Have a frank conversation with the person on the boat.

Three points to realize: 1) Just because you have an honest conversation with someone on the boat, about responsibility, does not mean they or their family will not sue you. 2) Even if you are right and will win, you will still spend tons of money/time in court, and 3) Even if you manage to have your buddy sign a piece of paper saying he or his family will not sue you if he dies due to his screw up - guess what, his family can still sue you. A person cannot sign away the legal rights of someone else to sue.

Given that, when I am on the boat - with my camera rig in hand - I do let my dive buddy know (and i let others know) that I am one of the worst dive buddies because I am constantly looking through my camera and not at everyone else.

 

[Wookie]

If you are truly concerned about the liability of being an insta-buddy, draw up a legal document (Contract) and present it to the proposed buddy. In said document explain what each of you are to do for the other, and what the penalties might be for non-compliance. Ensure that there is a hold harmless from each of you to the other, sign it, and leave it with the boat crew when you go diving. I can assure you that you will never put up with an insta-buddy again. Be prepared to accept the consequences if the boat requires a buddy or you don't have a solo card.

 

[DukeAMO]

I wonder if an Umbrella insurance policy would help with something like this? I'll have to go check out ours to see when it kicks in and what the limitations are. There are a couple of reasons to have an Umbrella policy, but one of the major ones is personal liability coverage. In the U.S. they recommend one for anyone making over about $50K a year because it's such a lawsuit-happy place. I think ours is something in the neighborhood of $150-200 a year for $1 million in coverage, and it also extends the coverage on our homeowners and auto policies to the same level. We've had ours ever since we hired a nanny (in case she sued us, or someone sued her and us together), and we never cancelled it.