Question on the legal end of accidents

[Lead_carrier]

It would seem to me that the safest thing to do would be offer to haul around their gear on your boat. See if any of them want to go water skiing that day. Throw their gear overboard in order to wash it and test it for leaks. Now if the owner wants to put a reg in their mouth and descend with that gear that is strickly an option that they choose. Being the swell pal that you are and seeing that these fellas are tired, you offer to haul their gear back to shore instead of making these poor unfortunate souls swim it back. Wasn't that a wonderful day?

 

[kchFLA]

If you don't think a friend will sue you, take a look at automobile accident cases. I don't know how many are passengers suing the driver, but it does happen.

 

[kchFLA]

But being a lawyer does have its advantages when diving. A shark will not attack me because of professional courtesy.

Check out my signature line.

 

[james croft]

I investigate boat related incidents for a living. Friends almost have to sue friends in the event of a death or serious injury. I begin my investigations with the various folks on board usually covering up for one another. I tell them that they need to tell the truth. They downplay how much a person was drinking, screwing around or how the operator was handling the boat, etc. I get pretty frank with them when I sit down with them one-on-one. I tell them in 2 years they will have an attorney and they will try to say the operator was doing beer bongs, or acting stupid. Invariably they are at each other's throats and lawyered up. Anybody or anything with a deep pocket will be named in the suit. Homeowners, boat insurance companies or tournement sponsors, etc will be sued. I am not here to give advice, but to tell you what I have seen happen in almost every serious case I have been involved in. I am meeting with an attorney this week involving a large lawsuit involving former friends. It will be interesting to hear what the story is of the parties two years later and see if it has changed.

 

[ItsBruce]

We've all heard the adage: Good fences make good neighbors. I'll revise it to say: Good waivers make good dive buddies.

 

[Thalassamania]

Expedition waivers have become fairly routine for "non-professional" exploration.

 

[DanBMW]

Nothing wrong with a waiver, just like the insurance that most will have on their boat.

Another thing to be aware of is the term "Commercial Operation." In Florida, (this used to be the case) if anyone "helps" with gas for the boat or contributes to the expense of the operation like providing air fills, lunch or any other trivial need, you can be looked at as a commercial operator with an entirely different set of rules and requirements such as, do you have a Captains License. and it goes on and on.

Guess we can thank our lawyers and courts/juries for the new lottery mentality and the fact that NO ONE IS RESPONSIBLE for their actions. Mistakes and acccidents do happen, but, personally does that mean you just won the lottery?

 

[reefgazer]

If you live or dive in Fla. you may want to review Kratter v. American Dive Center. This case law will make all waivers enforcable in Fla. even if the party screwed up or not.

 

[ItsBruce]

Guess we can thank our lawyers and courts/juries for the new lottery mentality and the fact that NO ONE IS RESPONSIBLE for their actions. Mistakes and acccidents do happen, but, personally does that mean you just won the lottery?

Don't thank the lawyer. They don't make or enforce the law. They just present their clients' cases and let the system decide. The juries are the ones who place values on injuries and the ones who seem to have lost touch with reality in terms of valuation. Also thank the media. The media is the one that most contributes to verdict inflation. The media publicizes the huge awards, which the jurrors then remember when called upon to formulate their own awards. The media never mentions the defense verdicts or the low awards.

 

[Diver0001]

Don't thank the lawyer. They don't make or enforce the law. They just present their clients' cases and let the system decide. The juries are the ones who place values on injuries and the ones who seem to have lost touch with reality in terms of valuation. Also thank the media. The media is the one that most contributes to verdict inflation. The media publicizes the huge awards, which the jurrors then remember when called upon to formulate their own awards. The media never mentions the defense verdicts or the low awards.

So it's everyone else's fault, Bruce? The jurors, the media, the system (read judges and police) and politicians (makers of the law)?

Everyone except the lawyers...

Well *someone* is out there convincing basically good people to do some pretty mean and possibly unethical things to each other on a fairly regular basis. And this "someone" has a lot less of an ethical compass in many cases than the mostly decent people who put their trust in them...

And don't kid yourselves. Lawyers act every bit as much in their own interests as they do I their clients' interests. They have businesses to run and their clients' cases are what those business need to survive. There must be good lawyers around and for my part you might be one of them...I can't tell for sure over the internet but you're a straight kind of guy which is a good sign. But frankly, with these kinds of conflicts of interest, *will* bring out the worst in people and even good lawyers can (an probably do) lose sight of what's best for their clients' due to the deafening "ching" "ching" of a lucrative suit....

In fact, some lawyers probably don't give a rat's arse about their clients as long as the money is rolling.... which is why we ask

"what do you call 500 lawyers on the bottom of the sea"

and answer

"a good start"

R..