Parents sue Boy Scouts for 2011 negligence death

[ScubaSteve1962]

Good grief! The Inst left two non-certified children below after giving them some hand signals it seems. They didn't understand or whatever, both got lost, and one died. And some of y'all are surprised that the child's parents are suing...?

Inst Corbertt Douglas was expelled from Padi the same month as the accident. See http://www.padi.com/scuba/about-pad...umer-alerts/expelled-divemasters-instructors/

Not surprised at all, they probably have a good case against the instructor, but pulling everyone else in with the deep pockets may be a problem, hopefully they'll get an out of court settlement.

Not surprised the parents are suing; just wondering why, if it's so cut and dry, that the authorities didn't make any arrests or go after the instructors for negligence. Or if they did, why they couldn't or didn't prosecute. But I'll admit, I haven't read anything about the case. I will when I get some time this weekend.

don't have to have a criminal case to file a civil suit.

 

[DandyDon]

Not surprised at all, they probably have a good case against the instructor, but pulling everyone else in with the deep pockets may be a problem, hopefully they'll get an out of court settlement.

That seems to be customary. State laws vary but the jury will probably set an amount and percentage for each, if any on some.

A criminal case can be much more difficult to seek and/or prove. The parents can sue without the support of the prosecutor, grand jury, etc. Too, innocent people can be sued even when the prosecutor doesn't want to pursue, but it'd be damned difficult to excuse this one, based on info given.

My daughter has served as a Scout leader taking Cub scout winter camping, we've both taken the kids of others on some challenging adventures that an attorney might call "cliff scaling in rattlesnake infested badlands" - but we took good care of the kids. Leaving those children alone below just seems inexcusable.

 

[Scott]

It was heartbreaking to read the intial accident thread and it still is.
Having been part of the BLAC DSD program several of years ago, attended meetings with their administration about the program a couple of years ago and knowing one of the defendants, this one will hurt.

 

[Bratface]

Nothing could be as painful as losing your child. It is unimaginable to my mind that two discovery student--children--were left unattended. I am sure the law suit came about to prevent others from having the heartache that these parents have had to endure.

 

[Rhone Man]

As proven with OJ, you don't have to win a criminal case to win a civil case.

No, but if those facts are true as alleged, it would be astonishing not to see a manslaughter prosecution.

 

[GrandpaScuba]

I don't get it... It never mentions why the supervising adults went to the surface and left the 2 un-certified boys by themselves? I can't conceive of a situation where this would be considered okay. I presume that instructor told them to stay with the rope, and thought that they would do this. But I've taught many teenage boys in my classes and one thing I've encountered over and over is that, once they get underwater they want to wander off and explore. When you try to pull them back to the group, they'll give you a deer-in-the-headlights look. They just look at you as if they haven't a clue why you are upset.

And just this... In a Discover Scuba program, I'm pretty sure the standards call for the students to be supervised at all times. I wish I knew more about what was happening. From what I know at this point, this instructor was clearly negligent.

 

[juicylucy]

This is crazy...wow

 

[Wookie]

Well, y'all don't know the whole story because it doesn't need to be tried in the court of the internet. Yes, the instructor did leave his 2 DSDs underwater, but maybe in the heat of decisionmaking, he had what he felt was a greater emergency on his hands.

 

[tcascione]

I've taken Boy Scouts out on their o-w checkout dives for over 20 years (and I'm also a trial lawyer and former prosecutor). The Boy Scouts of America have specific rules for Scuba activities and wholly defer to the licensed instructor, as they should. On a Discover Scuba the scoutmaster is merely another participant. That being said they still may get hit with damages and while the instructor may have skated under the high bar for criminal negligence he probably deserves punitive damages. From long experience it really isn't practical to head to the surface for a chat and expect to find unprepared newbies still waiting on the line when you return. This is a tragedy that resonates worse than all the tech divers and boundary pushers lost in a year since they were so young and this was so unexpected and so avoidable.

 

[FinnMom]

What an incredibly scary & sad story. I hope it has led to steps to make sure nothing like this will happen again.