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There's a tenet of law known as "Res Ipsa Loquitur" which means essentially "The Thing Speaks For Itself" - how this tenet of law is used is generally when things happen that no one can explain the causes for, such as an airliner crashing and sinking in the middle of the Atlantic. Absent any known cause of the accident, it is generally presumed in law that the airline and airplane manufacturer did something wrong, thus are liable for damages. The same tenet would hold true if your dive boat sank over the Laurentian Abyssal, and Bob Barlow was too busy to go down there in the Alvyn and check you out. It would be presumed that the captain, the boat owner, and manufacturer did something wrong. But as regards Diving, and any of the other "extreme" sports the law states clearly that the principal of "Informed Consent" plays heavily into any consideration of damages. I.E If you are told when you are trained that mammals going underwater with elaborate gear run the risk every minute that they might drown, then you have been considered "informed" and by going diving anyway, you have accepted that risk. If you die, too bad... Of course, if you advocate doing something that has been established as dangerous (i.e. Deep Air) and DO NOT inform an individual of the increased risk, you may be held liable for damages under various torts (including misrepresentation). That is why you see so few lawsuits over diving deaths or injuries that are ever won. Skydiving students who get squashed generally do not have heirs that sucessfully prosecute tort claims in any court. As for government regulation, I really don't see it - first of all, the folks in government don't know anything about diving - secondly, they probably classify it under the same catergory as skydivers, bungee jumpers, and drag racers - i.e crazy bastards that deserve to die anyway, so why protect them? There is NO way to regulate the diving industry, short of banning diving. They cannot legislate the depth you go to, they can't even legislate the mix you use (people would just start mixing their own if they banned businesses from selling nitrox) - so why bother? It is really a no-win situation for the politicians, so I don't see it happening. Now, if someone takes Mrs. Johnson's 3rd grade class on a 250 fsw deep air dive, and only 2 of the kiddies return, we've got us another situation... The only dive legislation I've heard of recently was in Florida, where Dive Rite lobbied the Florida legislature to require their square lights for use on each and every cave dive in the state below 20 feet... Kevin. HeyyDude (My thanks to my law school professor, Dr. Diamond, for beating torts into me, my first year...)
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