Sotis vs. IANTD

[Doc Ben]

so if Add Helium and Sotis are saying their business will go under if they can't teach for IANTD, and as of right now they can't teach for IANTD< why did I get an email from them this morning saying "Are You Ready to be Trained?" with class signups and what not? What agency are they teaching for for these classes, but more importantly, if they can teach for whoever is being used as the cert agency, would that not make the main point of this lawsuit null and void?

I am told by ADD Helium's Admin Director, that they have plenty of students signing up and they use instructors from various agencies, like IANTD, SSI. So if it is the instructor's credential that gives the certification, it should not matter what classroom you sit in. Correct? And to be clear, I have no ties to anyone in this contentious matter. I get information from many sources and make the best decisions I can. I have gotten plenty of private mail on who to use/not use for CCR training. I am not in a rush...OC has been great all these years so why risk CCR?

So, as an industry insider, I would agree with the contention that Sotis is not well respected in our industry.

Thanks for your opinion.

 

[luscioman]

IANTD has representation by Bruce Robinson of Lake City, Fl. I assume they will be putting in motion to change the venue soon.

 

[luscioman]

As predicted IANTD filed for a change of venue and it was granted. This case will drag out until after the other case is settled.

 

[Cert1967]

Time goes by all too fast - except when civil litigation is involved.

In this case, filed in July 2017, the wheel of justice is slowly grinding. What is the status?

Trial Date - nonjury - April 15, 2019
Pretrial Conference - March 12, 2019

Of interest are the depositions filed in this case for Tom Mount, Mark Fowler, John Jones, and Luis Augusto Pedro.

Collectively they provide an overview of both the case at hand, the workings of IANTD, the industry, and a backdoor view of the Horizon federal case.

IMO - several of the deponents were either poorly prepared or missed the plot of the event's structure.

As a group, they failed to wait until the question was complete, volunteered information, speculated, answered compound questions and generally failed to make the questioner be specific. Several alluded to docs not mentioned while responding to questions.

ANS- Mark Fowler, "Could I speculate a little bit?"

Q-Bayer, "Are notes or minutes of these meetings maintained?"
ANS- Mark Fowler, "There may be -- officially, no"​

None the less, if you are bored this weekend, the attached depos make interesting reading.

The full case history is available at The Florida Columbia County Clerk's site

https://tinyurl.com/ybkjsjyv

 

[The Chairman]

Thanks to @Cert1967 for posting those transcripts. I have finished Mark's and it's obvious he did investigations for a living and also pretty clear why he left IANTD. I really respect him. I am about half way through Tom's and am far less impressed. I should point out that Tom has told me that I'm the most irresponsible person in Scuba for allowing people to discuss things such as this publicly. Welcome to the information age, grandpa. Not sure that I can deal with the others today, but I have downloaded all four.

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

I'm the most irresponsible person in Scuba for allowing people to discuss things such as this publicly

And here I thought it was for a host of other reasons.

KIDDING!

 

[The Chairman]

KIDDING!

He wasn't. It seems he believes that students are best seen and not heard, I guess. He favors Facebook, which has very little in the way of any moderation. His loss: not ours.

 

[tomfcrist]

I’ve never had a problem with Tom. He’s a nice enough guy. I have some reservations though about his theology.

 

[The Chairman]

I’ve never had a problem with Tom.

I'm sure most haven't. I've been privy to a few of his rebukes to friends of mine and believe he was way off more than once. I cited my disagreement in order to let people know that my opinions about Tom are somewhat jaundiced due to those prior interactions. Having read his deposition, I feel no need to alter my opinions. When it comes to seeking additional certs or teaching affiliations, I'll certainly vote with my fins.

I have some reservations though about his theology.

Yeah, and I've deleted him from my FB friends list for his extreme politics and philosophy. He was a pioneer for Scuba, but I don't need that kind of negativity in my life. 'Nuff said. I'll start on the other two deps tomorrow. Do we have any depositions of Sotis or others available?

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

He wasn't. It seems he believes that students are best seen and not heard, I guess. He favors Facebook, which has very little in the way of any moderation. His loss: not ours.

Students seen and not heard .... oh wow. I think it helps instructors grow (like me) when they speak up. This is an education and customer service business after all