Sotis vs. IANTD

[Wookie]

Quite frankly I don't blame him. He was suspended without due process.

 

[Superlyte27]

Interesting...

 

[tbone1004]

having just read the correspondence between Fowler and Sotis it appears he did violate standards by acting as a safety diver for a diver who was diving beyond his certification limits

 

[tbone1004]

@Superlyte27 pete, his cell number is in the lawsuit under the incident report

 

[kafkaland]

Looks like they be damned if they suspend him, and the same if they don't. IANTD has already been under the gun for not suspending instructors who did really stupid things outside a formal teaching context, like pulling jumps on a lost cave diver, leading or contributing to her death. And in this instance they acted immediately, and get sued. I wonder if there is any meaningful way for an agency to have due process and yet keep dangerous instructors out of the water post haste, before more bad things happen.

 

[seeker242]

@Superlyte27 pete, his cell number is in the lawsuit under the incident report

Not much can be done about that, it's in the public records now. They would have to make an official request to exclude it from the public

 

[Wookie]

Looks like they be damned if they suspend him, and the same if they don't. IANTD has already been under the gun for not suspending instructors who did really stupid things outside a formal teaching context, like pulling jumps on a lost cave diver, leading or contributing to her death. And in this instance they acted immediately, and get sued. I wonder if there is any meaningful way for an agency to have due process and yet keep dangerous instructors out of the water post haste, before more bad things happen.

They have procedures to suspend dangerous instructors. Sotis contends that they did not follow them. More than a few instructors also contend this.

 

[tbone1004]

They have procedures to suspend dangerous instructors. Sotis contends that they did not follow them. More than a few instructors also contend this.

fair enough. Had a good chat with @cerich and I agree with his suggestion.
Reinstate him formally with a letter
Request the suit be dropped due to above action
Kick him out properly

They have everything they need in his incident report to kick him out, and it is even moreso ironclad now that the justification for standards violation is in his lawsuit, that he signed saying was accurate.

 

[mderrick]

The suit has to claim some kind of damage to valid, in this case it claims if he is not reinstated as an instructor, he and his business will be forced in to bankruptcy. A dive training business can't survive if the owner is not an instructor or the business is not a facility with a specific training agency? It would seem to me they could just switch agency affiliation.

 

[cerich]

The suit has to claim some kind of damage to valid, in this case it claims if he is not reinstated as an instructor, he and his business will be forced in to bankruptcy. A dive training business can't survive if the owner is not an instructor or the business is not a facility with a specific training agency? It would seem to me they could just switch agency affiliation.

the claimed damage part caught my eye as well as the requested action to get a court order to reinstate wouldn't remedy what his claimed damages regards reputation, that boat sailed. Yet he didn't ask for anything but to be put back in active teaching status.

To the switch agency thought, I was under the impression he has his own agency anyhow??

That all said, IMHO IANTD should have followed their procedures.