Divers fear it.
Hollywood made a movie about it.
And every so often, a scuba diver actually experiences it: surfacing after a dive to find the boat and her crew gone.
Forgotten.
Luckily for Daniel Carlock Jr., a 50-year-old Santa Monica man, his story ended not like the scenario portrayed in the 2003 movie "Open Water". Unfortunately for the crew that left Carlock in the water, this was the wrong guy to leave behind.
A judge has refused to dismiss a $4 million negligence suit filed by a diver abandoned at sea for hours by a boat crew.
Sun Diver Charters and Ocean Adventures lawyers had argued that by participating the dive, Daniel Carlock Jr. assumed certain risks and thus waived his right to hold the boat operator responsible.
But Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Edward A. Ferns disagreed, saying being abandoned at sea is not a risk inherent in scuba diving. He scheduled trial for June 9.
The 50-year-old Santa Monica man filed suit for negligence, infliction of emotional distress and fraud after the Ocean Adventures crew left him in the water off Santa Catalina Island when he got separated from his diving buddy on April 25, 2004.
Carlock was eventually rescued by Boy Scouts passing by on a boat.
What do you think? Should Ocean Adventures be forced to shell out compensation for their mistake? Or should Carlock understand that this is a risk to which we scuba divers subject ourselves while participating in our sport?
If you were presiding over this case, what would be your judgment?
4 comments:
This guy was a knucklehead.
The DM screwed up, but if you're left behind at the oil rig, shouldn't you stay there instead of floating in the open water?
It was foggy, but he got skin cancer?
Sounds like he wants to own a dive boat.
I like this blog and have added you to my "SCUBA Links (Blogroll)" located here:
http://psychosolodiver.com/?page_id=1129
Thanks for the link! We've added you to ours as well!!
Keep diving!
The company should pay, although 4 million may be a bit excessive. Perhaps if he'd lost a leg or spent days at sea floating towards Asia while his skin peeled off from sun burn!
I've added you to my blog as requested!
Cheers,
Mike
Hey Mike,
Thanks for the addition! We've added you to our illustrious blogroll as well!
=)
Keep diving!
><)))@>
_ndg
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