Once a DM always liable

[Christi]

You bet! AOW is the Only card in the wallet. I don't even carry the rescue card for the same reasons.

Not carrying the card doens't make you NOT who you are See above.

Since the rescue diver card is a non-professional level, no exposure there anyway...particularly when you take into account that someone can become a "Rescue diver" with less than 20 logged dives.

 

[H2Andy]

Not carrying the card doens't make you NOT who you are See above.

that's true. my thinking was:

scenario 1: PI Lawyer gets a list of the crew and passengers/divers on the day of
the accident. Joe Schmoe, OW diver is listed. on to the next diver.

scenario 2: PI Lawyer gets a list of the crew and passengers/divers on the day
of the accident. Joe Schmoe, DM, is listed. guess who just got himself a
starring role in a deposition? hopefully, it will end there... but you never know.

now, other than from the information the DM provided to the dive boat, the
PI guy would never know who is who. end of trail.

so my advice is, definetly fly below the radar if at all possible. why go asking
to get dragged into something you have nothing to do with?

 

[gjmmotors]

What I meant for my post to say was that if you dont follow protocol, they will throw you under the bus.
If I do the right thing they better back me up.

I was not reading selectively, I was merely stating my opinion about what someone else had written.

Actually, quite the contrary. The ageny has just as much interest in protecting you as you do...it's the agencies reputation on the line. If you are following standards and procedures, they will defend you to the end.

"Again, you are reading selectively. Read Andy's and my posts thoroughly...neither of us said that being on the same boat automatically gets you sued."
QUOTE]

 

[CIBDiving]

Not carrying the card doens't make you NOT who you are See above.

If you were a billionair would you walk around with thousand dollar bills falling out of your pockets?

You don't NEED to shout it to the world either! Well, some do, it would seem, I can think of no other reason for most of the DMs out there.

After all I AM an AOW, you must be to move on to DM, so i'm not lieing in showing a diveop my AOW card, If they asked I would ( well,ok, might) tell them of higher ratings but nobody ever asks - they just want to make sure you're qualified for a given dive.

 

[KOMPRESSOR]

I am so HAPPY-HAPPY-HAPPY I don't live in the US!

-We don't have the death penalty, and
-we don't have a legal system that lets hungry lawyers molest people's lives with unrightful lawsuits and fantasy claims for mistakes their clients actually brought on themselves just by being STUPID!

 

[Spoon]

I am so HAPPY-HAPPY-HAPPY I don't live in the US!

-We don't have the death penalty, and
-we don't have a legal system that lets hungry lawyers molest people's lives with unrightful lawsuits and fantasy claims for mistakes their clients actually brought on themselves just by being STUPID!

only in america! you hear about that case wherein a robber sued the owner of the house he was trying to rob? he apparently fell thru a glass roof and fell to the floor and injured himself. he won the suit! is this an urban legend or did this actually happen? if it did then its sooo messed up!!

 

[BarryNL]

You can always be sued. Too many starving lawyers out there. Im no lawyer, ( Im a good guy) but IMHO if your not working, your not liable. I will be intrested to hear what the sharks, Umm, lawyers have to say.

I've met divers who are actually qualified DM or higher but who always show just the rescue card when on dive trips. It's more to avoid being buddied up with the novice diver because the operation doesn't have their own DM to look after them, but it seems like a way to avoid professional liability too - just don't tell anyone you're a DM.

 

[Spoon]

I've met divers who are actually qualified DM or higher but who always show just the rescue card when on dive trips. It's more to avoid being buddied up with the novice diver because the operation doesn't have their own DM to look after them, but it seems like a way to avoid professional liability too - just don't tell anyone you're a DM.

never thought of that loophole, kinda defeats the purpose of being a dm

 

[BarryNL]

DITTO! I've read the entire case, including the appeal and the final judgment. Very few people know/understand whae cas wa REALLY about. They only believe the distorted views of what they see in the media that an old woman sued because she spilled hot coffee on her...there was sooo much more to it than that! Isn't there always?

Yeah, when you hear about this sort of case remember there's a lot of big corporations putting a lot of money into PR who'd love to see a reform of tort law. There's a good chance you're hearing about a "frivolous" lawsuit because that's what they want you to hear.

 

[Tollie]

Andy’s posts were really useful and turning pro has shaped how I behave on recreational dives when I’m a guest and not working. The key as one poster indicated was not to offer advice or assistance to other guests on the boat… even casually. If you do you open yourself up to a duty of care, which you then abandon as you go off on your own dive.

Now when I dive for fun I keep my mouth shut, dive with my regular buddy (my wife) or if I’m known by the operator, I buddy up with the working DM.

It’s too big a risk for too small a gain to expose yourself to such a liability.

I’m trying to say that going pro will change the way you conduct yourself as a diver and in some ways has taken some of the fun out of recreational diving for me. I used to really enjoy getting to know the other divers on the boat…