Wes Skiles' Widow Looking For 25 Million from Lamartek

[Rhone Man]

We don't need judges and juries to figure out the truth when we already know what it is. From what I've read about the incident it seems fairly certain that the truth is already known, and the problem was with Skiles, not the equipment.

I literally cannot list the number of cases I have been involved in where the facts as reported sensationally generate shock. But the judgment when read through carefully makes perfect sense when all the facts have been fully reviewed and sifted (no juries in the British system, so we get written judgments assessing all the facts and witnesses). When I point things out to friends they always say some variant of: "Oh, well I didn't know that! They didn't say that in the press. That changes it completely!".

Not saying Skiles' widow will win, but just don't confuse reading a few reports in the newspapers with several days of sifting through and carefully stress testing the evidence.

 

[Divin' Ivan]

Correction. Florida statute 768.81 amended 2012 provides for pure comparative fault. A wrongdoers pays for only their proportion of fault though plaintiffs can recover even if they are mostly at fault for what happens to them. This is what we call "pure comparative fault".In Florida even non party's immune from suit can be attributed fault serving to reduce a defendants responsibility to pay. Interestingly this comparative fault system varies by state. Here in Oregon you are barred from recovery if your own negligence is greater than all other causes combined. These are policy choices by each state's legislature. Sorry for assuming Florida's tort laws were similar to what I encounter here in the NW.

 

[dreamdive]

It really is all about causation and comparative fault. If a jury determines Wes Smiles was more at fault than the rebreathers design defects in causing his death, his widow will not win. I believe Florida requires that the plaintiff be no more than 49 percent at fault to recover. Let the process work as it is supposed to. In the meantime the diving public is getting a good look at how very good divers end up dead using rebreathers. This cave diver will be sticking with OC for the time being.

OMG! You guys will just have to wait until the proverbial CAT IS OUT OF THE BAG and the details are revealed to the public. If the public did know those details, this would be a very different discussion. Meanwhile, can we refrain from even suggesting that anything was intrinsically defective on the rebreather.

 

[tursiops]

I think it is telling that the lawyers are saying, "Let the process work," while the non-lawyers are saying, "We don't trust the process."

Seems to me there is a serious gap here.

 

[Patoux01]

Surprisingly, Brad Horn is not yet here?

 

[BRT]

I think it is telling that the lawyers are saying, "Let the process work," while the non-lawyers are saying, "We don't trust the process."

Seems to me there is a serious gap here.

Follow the money

 

[Leadking]

Insurance usually does not pay out for a suicide.

There is , usually, a one year exclusion for suicide.

 

[hroark2112]

For those who have never tried to dive a rebreather, it is very different than diving OC. You have to pay attention to the unit like your life depends on it, because it does. It isn't something that you just pick up and hop in the water to take for a spin.

I've seen dive instructors with literally thousands of dives under their wetsuits struggle to get used to diving a rebreather. It's just that different. IMO anyone who dives one without the proper training deserves what they get.

 

[KevinNM]

Iirc, he was a rebreather diver. Just not on that model. Of course, there is a reason you are supposed to take a transition course before diving a new model. But we shall see what evidence there is.

 

[oya]

Lamartek should have reasonably foreseen that Mr.Skiles would use the rebreather as he did.

Oh my everloving, undersea god, does this sentence piss me off in so very, very many ways.

"The manufacturers of duct tape should have foreseen that it would be used by rapists and kidnappers, so they owe all those families money in civil suits."

"The Lego corporation should have known that eventually my brother-in-law was going to try to fit 40 blocks up his ass, puncturing his rectum leading to sepsis and death, so they owe me money."

"We should have known all along that by making law a well-paying profession that it would change from a system of justice to a self-serving, self-promoting, and self-aggrandizing Charlie Foxtrot which plays on the bloody-minded stupidity of 12 easily manipulated nitwits to warp justice into what it wants... but oh well... for the most part it kinda-sorta works. Sometimes. Well, rarely... but, you know... no options."


Edited to add: My brother-in-law didn't actually shove any legos up his ass. Not as far as I know. Nor is he dead. I was just making a point and it seemed pretty funny. My sincerest apologies if anyone reading's brother-in-law did actually die from legos up the ass.
There is a silver lining, though: there are lawyers on this very board who might take your case to sue Lego!