Sunrise Scuba, Spring Hill FL lawsuit

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Here I thought the whole idea of a suit was to have a judge look at the evidence and apply the law to both parties.
If the dive shop owner would pay for my damages, I wouldnt have anything to dispute, and nothing for a judge to decide.
Furthermore, if the dive shop owner, (who knows me and has my phone number) had called ME when he realized he had a compressor problem, and was pumping oil and water into scuba cylinders, the situation would be much different. Instead he waited for me to find out I had a problem and come after him!

I am not an attorney but I am in the insurance industry. If there were physical injuries you might have seen the inside of a courthouse. Obviously the shop owner was a sloppy non-caring business person who could have seriously injured someone or worse. If it's any consolation he probaly lost tens of thousands of dollars during his short stint in the business due to his shortcomings. Like missdirected indicated earlier you proabaly could never extract settelment from him anyway but his insurance carrier maybe...
 
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I am not an attorney but I am in the insurance industry. If there were physical injuries you might have seen the inside of a courthouse. Obviously the shop owner was a sloppy non-caring business person who could have seriously injured someone or worse. If it's any consolation he probaly lost tens of thousands of dollars during his short stint in the business due to his shortcomings. Like missdirected indicated earlier you proabaly could never extract settelment from him anyway but his insurance carrier maybe...

Excellent points.

Either way, good luck tracking the guy down, salmonboy97.
 
A couple of thoughts:

1) Was the shop affiliated with any of the usual dive orgs: PADI, NAUI etc . . if so, I'd file a report with them so they hopefully will be aware if this chap opens another shop somewhere.

2) It seems you at least have grounds for a small claims court to recover your losses. The difficulty will be in locating the owner and if you win, getting the funds. But if it is important to you for the principle of the matter, then at least you will have had your day in court.

3) We encountered a similar issue at our local quarry a week ago. Fortunately I was spared but the folks I was with that day were not. It will be interesting to see how your situation and theirs resolves.

Good luck!
 
I just got back from meeting with Scott of Sunrise Scuba. He agreed to let me take some store merchandise as collateral until he sells his remaining inventory and pay me cash.
I now have a BC, Octo, Alt air source, console w/nitrox computer, compass. All this gear is Genesis, brand new with the tags.
Hopefully he will be able to "cash out" later but if not at least I have some gear I can sell to offset my loss.
Thanks to all posters to this thread, even the ones who said I was in this for the money. I dont hold that assumption against you, you dont know me, or much of the details. ( I really couldnt post much of the hearsay )
 
Hey good for you.. Im glad it looks like you will at least be able to get some of your money back. Congrats!!.. Looked very bad when you had mentioned they had closed.


I just got back from meeting with Scott of Sunrise Scuba. He agreed to let me take some store merchandise as collateral until he sells his remaining inventory and pay me cash.
I now have a BC, Octo, Alt air source, console w/nitrox computer, compass. All this gear is Genesis, brand new with the tags.
Hopefully he will be able to "cash out" later but if not at least I have some gear I can sell to offset my loss.
Thanks to all posters to this thread, even the ones who said I was in this for the money. I dont hold that assumption against you, you dont know me, or much of the details. ( I really couldnt post much of the hearsay )
 
Scuba air quality in the state of Florida is required to be CGA Grade E (or better) and required to be tested quarterly by LAW as per Florida Statute 381.895.

I know of only two fill stations here Fort Lauderdale that comply :shakehead:
Compressed Air Standards for Recreational Diving

Walk into most shops with a copy of this and you'll get the "deer in the headlights" response far more times than not.



Interesting. Thanks for posting it.

I wonder if the local health departments enforce the quarterly reports. I'm guessing not.


64E-20.002 Testing and Standards.
(1) The Department of Health hereby adopts and incorporates by reference the Grade "E" air quality standard cited in the Commodity Specification for Air, CGA G-7.1-1997, published by the Compressed Gas Association (CGA) as their standard for maximum allowable level of contaminants.

(2) Providers must submit to the Department of Health on a quarterly basis the test results from an accredited laboratory.These test results may be provided to the Department of Health, Bureau of Facility Programs, by e-mail, facsimile transmission, by regular mail or as described on voluntary DH form 4125, 1/2000.


I've often found that a lot of dive shops use compressors that are "surplus" from the military or otherwise. Sometimes these are ok, sometimes they are worn out. However, if any compressor is not given proper maintenance, you can have problems.

perfect example, I know of a couple local compressors (of closed shops) that were sub standard and known for bad air fills.

often shops are "mom/pop" operations run by people who don't test these for air quality, etc. :shakehead:

After getting fills before from places that weren't great, it teaches you to choose your air fill locations carefully and wisely.
 
Interesting. Thanks for posting it.

I wonder if the local health departments enforce the quarterly reports. I'm guessing not.


64E-20.002 Testing and Standards.
(1) The Department of Health hereby adopts and incorporates by reference the Grade "E" air quality standard cited in the Commodity Specification for Air, CGA G-7.1-1997, published by the Compressed Gas Association (CGA) as their standard for maximum allowable level of contaminants.

(2) Providers must submit to the Department of Health on a quarterly basis the test results from an accredited laboratory.These test results may be provided to the Department of Health, Bureau of Facility Programs, by e-mail, facsimile transmission, by regular mail or as described on voluntary DH form 4125, 1/2000.

I'm not aware of any enforcement taking place whatsoever. The caveat to that is that once a standard or regulation has gone unenforced for a while, it can become unenforceable.
 
I'm not aware of any enforcement taking place whatsoever. The caveat to that is that once a standard or regulation has gone unenforced for a while, it can become unenforceable.

That wouldn't be a defense in this case. I can't think of the actual name right now but the state does not waive it's right to enforce a law at any time. Those "loopholes" have been closed quite a bit. Darn I wish I could think of the actual "law" but it is kind of like the severability clause. That means that because one part is not enforceable doesn't mean other parts aren't.
 
Case in point: in the city I live in (Weston), they have an ordinance that says you can't have your garbage can on the street before sunrise or after sundown. This is not a HOA rule, it's a city ordinance.

Since most folks don't feel like getting up at 6am to roll the can out, they do it the evening before. Since the majority of the 12,000 households regularly violate the ordinance, it is currently unenforceable unless the city were to send out notices beforehand telling people they were going to begin cracking down on violators.

The air quality rule would probably be different since it involves safety and not "neighborhood appearance" though. But I'm just saying, openly failing to enforce a rule opens up a lot of legal wiggle room for a good attorney.
 
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