>	The only people worse than the feds are the lawyers, surely?
Ok, I've kept quiet for too long.  I'm a professional shark, aka lawyer, 
and spend my working time defending doctors and hospitals in malpractice 
suits.  There is a place for negligence suits, including in the diving 
industry, but the trouble is that the system is so abused, expensive and 
inefficient.  Malpractice suits do make some doctors think twice about 
what they are doing or not doing in this day and age of HMO's and profit 
margins mandated by insurance organizations. On the other hand we all pay 
a heavy price as consumers for the cost of the abusive of the legal 
system.

In California, one of the worst states for this type of litigation, the 
waivers we all sign when we get on the dive boat ARE effective and 
legally enforcable to prevent negligence suits.  They will not, however, 
given the most recent rulings, waive rights in "Product Liability".  
Hence the manufacturer, retailer/renter of the gear can't get "off the 
hook" if there's a product defect.  On the other hand, the stupid skipper 
who runs over a diver in the water and chops him to pieces is home free 
if a waiver was signed as is usually required.

Make sense?

Harold H. Gartner III
6900 Via Alba
Camarillo, California 93012
home: (805) 482-9743
home fax: (805) 987-6804
office: (805) 644-1061
E-Mail:
hgartner@ra*.or*
CompuServe 71470,1423

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