Man rescued from submerged car sues dive team.

[wetb4igetinthewater]

This reminds me of the scene in Life of Brian with the ex-leper. Some people are never satisfied.

 

[kelemvor]

While I do not want to comment on the sue issue, one phrase stroke me a bit:

Ortiz was able to find a small air bubble in the back of his car where Ferszt said his client spent two hours waiting to be rescued.


What is the SAC rate (or better O2 consumption as used air returns to the bubble) of an excited/panicked person? How large did this small air bubble have to be for allowing him to stay for 2 hours?

(Just out of curiousity)

Longer than I would have expected. This guy lasted for 3 days in a sunken ship. Granted it was a bigger air space, but 3 days! Check this out: http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/ac...8-jascon-4-rescue-video-3-days-30m-lived.html

 

[Jared0425]

I would counter sue saying that he put the lives of the divers in harms way to help him bet out of the situation he caused. What idiot would drive across a flooded road that is deeper than the cars roof, and then decide not to bail when it started to flood?

 

[Tigerman]

While I do not want to comment on the sue issue, one phrase stroke me a bit:

Ortiz was able to find a small air bubble in the back of his car where Ferszt said his client spent two hours waiting to be rescued.


What is the SAC rate (or better O2 consumption as used air returns to the bubble) of an excited/panicked person? How large did this small air bubble have to be for allowing him to stay for 2 hours?

(Just out of curiousity)

With a half decent sac rate youd breathe down about 60 cuft of air in 2 hours.. As exhaled gas contain about 15% oxygen you can breathe the same gas a few times before it cant sustain life, but co2 becomes part of the equation as well of course...

 

[Mike]

Politely disagree. Sovereign immunity is an old and accepted doctrine in the US. This is the essence of the 11th amendment to our constitution. Rescuers have what is known as "civil immunity".

Does this make us part of Russia?

---------- Post added March 11th, 2014 at 02:05 PM ----------



There is no lawsuit yet.

I'll take a little part of Russia in this country right about now, a little Russian pragmatism a little less USA politically correct nanny state please.

Any return in our legal system to even just a wiff of common sense would be very welcome also.

 

[drinksfromtap]

From one of the articles I read, it looks like one of the rescue dive team members is being personally sued. I'd be very interested in hearing from anyone with a legal background out there whether the decision in this case may affect liability for non-professionals attempting a rescue.

FWIW I think this discussion fits well within this forum's stated purpose of being "...​the place to discuss court cases and legal matters that affect the SCUBA industry."

 

[MMM]

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A ScubaBoard Staff Message...

I have merged another thread that was located in the scuba court cases forum (for court cases affecting the scuba industry). The story says that the rescued person MIGHT sue. If he actually does, this thread will either be moved or merged to any newly created thread. But no point having two threads going on the same topic. Marg, SB Senior Moderator

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[TracyN]

That is the problem with this country. Too many people don't want to take responsibility for their own actions. It's easier to blame someone else or some outside force than to own up to their own stupidity. Of course it doesn't help matters any when you have radio advertisements such as 411 Pain or 1800 Ask Gary playing all day and night. Not to mention all of the lawyer ads on TV advertising about all these class action lawsuits. People want to get rich quick and unfortunately they are too dumb to realize that the only people making money in these situations are the lawyers.

 

[agesilaus]

From one of the articles I read, it looks like one of the rescue dive team members is being personally sued. I'd be very interested in hearing from anyone with a legal background out there whether the decision in this case may affect liability for non-professionals attempting a rescue.

FWIW I think this discussion fits well within this forum's stated purpose of being "...​the place to discuss court cases and legal matters that affect the SCUBA industry."

That was my thought when I posted it. In this part of the country Sheriffs often use volunteer divers in their rescue teams. Especially in smaller counties. Something like this would make me reconsider volunteering. It might depend on the state good Samaritan law.

BK

 

[nimoh]

That is the problem with this country. Too many people don't want to take responsibility for their own actions. It's easier to blame someone else or some outside force than to own up to their own stupidity. Of course it doesn't help matters any when you have radio advertisements such as 411 Pain or 1800 Ask Gary playing all day and night. Not to mention all of the lawyer ads on TV advertising about all these class action lawsuits. People want to get rich quick and unfortunately they are too dumb to realize that the only people making money in these situations are the lawyers.

for many, they realize that they did something stupid but a lawyer is dangling dollar signs in front of them, and they cash in. In some of these cases the stupid people walk away with a lot of money in a settlement, so it isn't just the lawyers making money...but don't get me wrong, the lawyers are still making money