SCUBA lawsuits against manufacturers

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The Goat Show

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I'm a law school student doing a paper on the liability of SCUBA equipment manufacturers. I was wondering if anyone could point me in the direction of any cases or articles on this subject that would be of any help.
Thanks
The Goat Show
 
The only case I have handy involving a claim against a manufacturer (as opposed to dive operators, captains of vessels, etc.) is Thornton v. Sea Quest, 999 F. Supp. 1219 (N.D. Ind. 1998), which is principally concerned with a choice of law issue - as I recall (because I didn't bother to go back and actually read the case just now), Indiana limited damages to pecuniary losses in a situation where Florida would allow other damages, so the family of the deceased diver was arguing for the application of Florida law.

But if you are going to look into claims against manufacturers, I assume you will be interested in product liability issues and the question of whether SCUBA diving is a dangerous activity may come up. I thought this statistic was sufficiently interesting to keep a record of it:

The risk of power-boating compared even more favorably to “other recreational activities, with 0.88 in hunting, 1.41 in high school and college football games, 3.08 in scuba diving and 17.34 in private flying.”

(Those numbers represent the “estimated number of fatalities” per “each million activity hours.”) That is from the National Boating Safety Advisory Council (NBSAC), Report of the Propeller Guard Subcommittee (1989). They decided that propeller guards weren't required, because propellers didn't kill very many people. I don't know if they counted divers killed by propellers as SCUBA fatalities or boating fatalities, or both, but the risk from all causes for open motorboats was only 0.14, "within which the risk of propeller strike itself is a very small fraction."
 
LAWSUITS.......... William Shakespere had it right. come on back I have big shoulders.
 
Stirling:
The only case I have handy involving a claim against a manufacturer (as opposed to dive operators, captains of vessels, etc.) is Thornton v. Sea Quest, 999 F. Supp. 1219 (N.D. Ind. 1998), which is principally concerned with a choice of law issue - as I recall (because I didn't bother to go back and actually read the case just now), Indiana limited damages to pecuniary losses in a situation where Florida would allow other damages, so the family of the deceased diver was arguing for the application of Florida law.

Yep. They sued in Florida for that reason.

It was even noted on this professors final law exam.

https://www3.nd.edu/~ndlaw/exams/bauer/Conflict of Laws/Conflict_of_Laws_Spring_1999.html
 
i don't know of any cases on point, but here are some issues you might want
to read into:

1. is scuba diving considered an "inherently dangerous" activity? if so, can
the manufacturer claim "assumption of risk" on the part of the buyer?
are there any other legal consequences from being a manufactuer
of products designed for an "inherently dangerous" activity?

2. how far does a limited warranty protect a scuba manufacturer? are
scuba products warranted against "all" failures? "some" failures only?

3. does acceptance of a limited warranty act as a "waiver" in case of
injury as to the manufacturer?

4. what are the elements of a cause of action for a products liability action?
would they apply to scuba gear? why? why not?

5. could there be a strict liability action against a scuba products manufacturer?
why or why not?

(hate to sound like a prof. sorry :D)
 
Hey Stirling,
Thanks for the stats on recreational accidents. I have that Thornton case already and you are correct, it is a more of a choice of law case than a products liability case.
The other cases I already have are:
- Sinclair v Soniform, 935 F.2d 599 (BC case)
- Schwarze v Divers Supply, 2002-Ohio-3945 (Regulator Case)

If you have any others that you come across later on I'd appreciate if you could pass them along.
Thanks
 
The Goat Show:
I'm a law school student doing a paper on the liability of SCUBA equipment manufacturers. I was wondering if anyone could point me in the direction of any cases or articles on this subject that would be of any help.
Thanks
The Goat Show

Goat Show: As a lawyer (graduate 2000) I suggest that you do a westlaw/lexis seach on product liabilty and scuba to get all the cases out there. As a law student you have westlaw/lexis for free. So, use the heck out of it while you can (unless your a 1L and they don't let you use it yet like they did our class; if so, make friends with a 2nd or 3rd year)! Westlaw/Lexis will charge you an arm and a leg for the service once you graduate so get the most out of it now. I would do a search now but I am at home and my office is where I can access it.

For your paper, I'd look at other assumption of risk activities against manufacturers like parachuting, hang gliding, flying, skiing, etc. As secondary authority for Scuba.

There is a REALLY knowledgeable attorney that participates on this board. I think his handle is Azatty (something to the effect of Arizona Attorney) he is very, very informative and very bright from my reads of his posts. Also, there is a recent tragedy involving a tank explosion in Florida. It was a Lexur tank if I am correct. I'd look into that case; there will be no decision but if you do your homework and findout the attorneys involved you can get the pleadings to the case simply by contacting them or the courthouse where the case is filed. Lexur has also had some issues with pre 1990 tanks; I don't know the full details so I am reluctant to call it a recall but what I believe happened is that if you sent them your old tank they would send you a $50 credit to the purchase of a new one. That company might fit right in with your paper.

Hopefully, this post was some help. Let me know if I can do anything to do to help. If you are shy about getting the pleadings let me know and I will help you.

Not very often would I dare speak for others on this board, but, I am quite sure that many of us would be interested in your paper if you would like to share it with us. Please do a search for Azatty and read some of his posts; he might be a lot of benefit to you since he knows a lot in the area of scuba and tort law.

Remember about law school: 1st year they scare you to death; 2nd year they work you to death; and 3rd they bore you to death.

And, promise you won't be a sleazy defense counsel lawyer nor a sleazy frivilous plantiff's lawyer. Be a decent lawyer that defys the sterotypical lawyer and you'll have a good practice. Both sides need good people. Best Wishes to you.
 
Why help a lawyer who may not be a student sue dive equipment companies so that everything you buy will be foreign made and super expensive--enough with lawyers--off with all their heads! N
 
I think you'd have a more interesting paper if you researched the restraint of trade issues, which affect all of us.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/teric/

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