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Doug
Thanks for your answers, I just keep finding it very disturbing that these
lawsuits keep coming up against the buddy of the deceased diver. We had the
same kind of lawsuit here and they did not win that one either
www.capt-jt.com/death_dive.htm . Every time one of these lawsuits are filed
against the surviving buddy it is just another reason to dive solo.
Maybe the lawyers that lurk on these list that look for accidents should
ask themselves "How many divers have I or will I kill by forcing them to
dive solo for fear of being sued".
At 12:37 PM 12/20/01 -0500, Doug Chapman wrote:
>JT,
>I cannot confirm the statement because I am not directly familiar with the
>case or the people involved (inc. the three dead). I was told at the time we
>made the video (that I described in an earlier post) that this video was for
>a lawsuit involving one or more fatalities in So. Florida. I know better than
>to ask too many questions in these sorts of things. I just wanted to go
>diving. In making the video, we had a procedure to follow that I suspect was
>drafted and agreed to by both the plaintiff and defense teams. I do suspect
>it is the same case, but I don't know that for a fact. To speculate beyond my
>involvement in simply making a video would not be proper. Regardless, I did
>not know any of the dead divers, so I cannot comment on those points as well.
>
>-Doug
>
>--------------------
> >Begin
>Doug
>The lawsuit you refer to, was it the WPB 3 accident in FL . If so can you
>confirm the statement below that was emailed to me in private about the
>court case. How accurate is the info below.
>
> >The triple death in WPB well the instructor is an or was an excellent
>instructor and unlike what xxxxx states he did not smoke and he was not a
>drunk. He was a retired sgt Major from SP and had 4 tours of duty in Nam
>He went through swim school with the USN in February. He ran the US Army
>swim Scholl for a few years.
>He swim 2 miles 3 times a week up until the day he died and he ran for 20
>minutes on the non swimming days .That comes from years of combat swims
>He was an excellent diver and an excellent instructor.
>xx was the expert witness against him or his estate the testimony is
>interesting. Unfortunately the insurance company settled for 450,00 instead
>of going to court as there is no doubt in the lawyers mind and evidently in
>their that the case would have been beaten.xxxxxx per se had been dropped
>out of the case 3 months earlier and the suit then was against xxxx estate,
>xxxxxxxxxxxxx, The boat Captain and the diver who tried to assist in the
>rescue until xxxxx sent him up because he was low on gas. . The suit had
>been for 9 million originally. The offer for 450,00 was made as that was
>the amount the insurance company figured they would spend in appeals once
>the plaintiffs lost the case. And that offer was put on the table at
>mediation called for by the plaintiffs attorneys the day before the case.
>The attorney at hat time had only offered them 50 thousand (basically the
>cost of a trial) So at 4 PM the offer was made and it was to be taken off
>the table at 8:30 PM at 7:50 xxxxx called and they took it.
>They then went to court against the diver (xxxxxxxx) who survived with xx
>testifying against him. Had they won this case that would have meant
>whatever you do do not try and rescue a diver. Fortunately the jury found
>that xxxxxxx efforts only helped the situation not contribute to it as xx
>was implying. Then the judge threw out the suit in regard to xxxxxxx the
>3rd diver who died. xxxxxx was a close friend of xxxx but when they had a
>problem he had left and went up to deco on his lift bag. The last time
>xxxxxx saw him he was on his lift bag. He may have gone back down to assist
>or he may have had a problem of his own. He was not a student or anything
>that nature. He had not been with them on the three times they got up to
>150 and then sank back to 200 plus before xxxxx left.
>As far as config there was a complete video of xxxxx xxxxxx taking the same
>equipment that was used by the deceased and ascending just using his BC.
>Then they have a scene with xxxxx ascending with four steal stages just to
>show that the BC would lift that much more.
>Now I understand that they are making an appeal against the boat captain
>because he has no insurance so will not have a lawyer to represent him. No
>they will not get any real money but they can set a example they could use
>in future cases against boat captains in similar situations. or any
>accidents for that matter.
>Thought you might want to know more about what happened than what is stated
>on tech diver
> >end
>--
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Web Site http://www.capt-jt.com/
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