Suit filed in case of "Girl dead, boy injured at Glacier National Park

[Jack Hammer]

Are there any controlled studies or fully documented incidents that demonstrate exactly what someone can expect from drysuit squeeze at particular depths?

No studies that I'm aware of. How quickly, how uncomfortable, and how restrictive drysuit squeeze becomes depends on differing factors. I've found the more insulation worn the more restrictive squeeze overall to be as there is more to compress and restrict movement. I've also found it more quickly uncomfortable with less undergarments as there is less protection. At around 30'/9m in very cold water I found it difficult to move and very uncomfortable and I had bruising afterwards.

 

[Landau]

...drysuit squeeze ... depends on differing factors.

Definitely many factors here. I find squeeze more noticeable in a rented trilam suit than my own compressed neoprene suit. I'm not sure if that is due to the different materials, the different fit or just the random way the trilam material got folded as it compressed on that particular dive. Type and fit of undergarments are likely factors as well.

That's why in the various "How squeeze felt to me" posts above there is a wide variety of different experiences.

 

[texspeleo]

I’ve been meaning to log in ScubaBoard to see if this accident had been discussed since it happened, but just did tonight (long and complicated story). I found this 7 hours ago and have now read the entire court filing, most of it twice, and all this and the thread in accidents. I keep coming back to the instructor’s lack of experience in my mind. I could find nothing referring to Snow’s diving experience prior to her instructor course, but diving in Montana is quite unlike diving in Florida.

116. Instructor supervision for these training courses was provided by Snow, with the assistance of Liston, whose highest level of certification was Junior Open Water.
117. Snow is a former hairdresser who received her initial PADI Instructor certification in Key Largo, Florida in December 2019. Snow returned to Key Largo, Florida in January 2020 to receive additional PADI Instructor credentials, which did not include certifications to teach PADI’s Altitude Diver, Ice Diver or Dry Suit Diver Specialty Courses.
118. At all times material hereto, Defendants, Snow and Liston, acted within the course and scope of their agency with and/or employment by Defendants, Gull Dive, David Olson and Jeannine Olson, and in furtherance of said Defendants’ interests.​

 

[chillyinCanada]

For the lawyers in this thread, is it possible to amend the complaint?

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

. I keep coming back to the instructor’s lack of experience in my mind. I could find nothing referring to Snow’s diving experience prior to her instructor course, but diving in Montana is quite unlike diving in Florida.

In the discovery phase, the instructor's cold water experience will come out for diving in the mountains amd Puget Sound. I don't think it makes that much difference as fundamental errors in weighting and equipment were made.

 

[boulderjohn]

Almost all of the very grievous errors she made had almost nothing to do with diving or instructional skill. She could have been the greatest thing they had ever seen at the ICD and IE. The violations are all conscious decisions.

 

[rmorgan]

is it possible to amend the complaint?

Yes, it’s routine to amend complaints.

This article may have been posted already; I apologize if so.Lawsuit details alleged negligence that drowned Missoula diver in Lake McDonald

Also, for any who are interested, Ms. Mills’s obituary, which appears not to have been posted yet. Linnea Mills Obituary (2002 - 2020) - Missoula, MT - The Herald

 

[stiebs]

Interestingly, her obituary seems to imply she was a more experienced diver than the Complaint does.

 

[boulderjohn]

The story gives information about the Hubbell case which we were otherwise unable to discover.

Last July, according to records, Ellen Hubbell sued Gull Dive in the death of her husband Jesse who drowned in Canyon Ferry in June 2019. Jesse hadn’t scuba dived in more than 25 years so he wasn’t certified, but Gull Dive still rented equipment to him and it was later found Hubbell’s regulator was on backward.​

The complaint said he was not certified, but this article said he had not dived "in more than 25 years so he wasn’t certified." The reporter likely did not know that certifications do not expire. If he was certified 25 years ago, then he was certified when he rented the equipment and when he dived. Perhaps he was not certified 25 years ago. I do not know what it means that a regulator was on backward. It is possible that the tank was set up with the valve on the back rather than toward the head, but in that case the regulator would work.

The Hubbell case is still ongoing but hadn’t gotten far by the time Linnea started interacting with Gull Dive. But there was no way for students like Linnea to know about the Hubbell case because Gull Dive didn’t report it to PADI in 2019 and kept using the PADI name.
​

This, too, contradicts the complaint, which faults PADI for not dealing with the dive shop over the Hubbell case.

 

[Bob DBF]

Interestingly, her obituary seems to imply she was a more experienced diver than the Complaint does.

I don't read it that way at all. The experiences mentioned could be had in a handful of dives.