Scuba "Buddy" Release form - Has anyone come across one?

[chrisch]

All the charges were dropped.

True, but after considerable stress and massive problems. The Maltese dive laws are problematic and people would be well advised to take out adequate insurance including legal expenses insurance (which the BSAC said it had - but it had dropped that cover - hence the furore).

In this case the most "senior" diver is responsible. Another minefield. Personally I would not dive in Malta.

 

[boulderjohn]

Didnt help that BSAC chap in malta

Malta actually had two highly troublesome cases, and I agree that they are an outlier to the point that I will make no plans to dive there. I fear that the prosecutors who went after those two cases are smarting from having them eventually tossed and are aching to find one they can win. The second Malta case featured some very questionable events in the trial, including having an expert witness who was not an expert on diving and having no expert witnesses from the diving community.

In the rest of the world, buddies are pretty safe from such things.

 

[Marcozx]

Not through help via BSAC, they hung him to dry

 

[OMyMyOHellYes]

Malta . . . I will make no plans to dive there.

I'll flip that: I will plan to NOT dive there.

 

[Edward3c]

Not through help via BSAC, they hung him to dry

Not true, as much as the doom sayers claim.

It was the then BSAC NDO meeting the Attorney General (in person) that got the case dropped

 

[mar2112]

Can't imagine many people would be willing to pair up with you if you required a signed form.

 

[rjack321]

Can't imagine many people would be willing to pair up with you if you required a signed form.

It alienates the buddy and does nothing to prevent their surviving family members from suing anyway.

 

[boulderjohn]

What follows is slightly off topic, but I think it illustrates the uncertain legal status of the diving community in terms of liability.

You may know the name Richie Kohler. He was involved with the exploration of the German U-Boat described in the book Shadow Divers, and he teamed with John Chatterton on the TV show Deep Sea Detectives and other shows and adventures. My memory of the details is sketchy, but Richie was sued by the family of a diver who died on a trip he led--IIRC, it was to the Andrea Doria. The diver was highly qualified, and he signed the typical waiver, which did no good. As I understand it, the basis of the lawsuit was that, in the family's opinion, Kohler had not adequately explained the dangers of that particular dive site before the diver signed up for the dive. The suit was eventually dismissed, but Kohler went through Hell for a while.

The story, which I got from John Chatterton's written description of it, scared me. I was regularly then leading dives to a 280-foot deep sinkhole in New Mexico, and I was wondering if I needed to write a description of the known dangers of the site. I gave it a shot, but one of my former students, an attorney, stopped me. This was not her area of law, but she had learned in her training that such a statement from me could be used as evidence that I knew that the dive site was too dangerous for some of the people who were diving there. In other words, by trying to protect myself by warning people of the risk, I might actually be putting myself at risk. (Damned if you do; damned if you don't.) She really wasn't sure what was best, and she suggested I contact an attorney who specialized in that sort of thing.

 

[Scuba Lawyer]

It has been a while since I looked at this particular area of law, but as long as I can remember, in California at least, there is no duty to rescue another person absent some "special relationship. " As far as I know, being a scuba buddy has not been adjudicated here to be such a special relationship standing on its own. HOWEVER, promise your buddy before the dive that you will be available to give him air should he need it likely would create such a relationship and may cause you liability. Solo diving rocks!

 

[chrisch]

It has been a while since I looked at this particular area of law, but as long as I can remember, in California at least, there is no duty to rescue another person absent some "special relationship. "

I assume from that the possibility exists that the legal situation is different (or potentially so) in other states? This is an issue for us non-US visitors as we often assume (wrongly) the USA has one law for the whole country.

I have always had DAN insurance which includes legal expenses, however the BSAC Malta case made me realise the level of cover is inadequate (risible in fact). For us Europeans DAN does not cover the USA either.