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Let's say that a mentor takes out a person with dependands. No money exchanges hands, the mentor says explicitly he is not instructor, doesn't represent himself as an instructor, knows nothing about instructing, warns of the consequences, wears an I am not an instructor T-shirt prior to the dive, you get my point.

Winning the case isn't going to save you from the attorney fees for defending you.

Perhaps, but do you really want to live your life controlled by such what ifs (the rhetorical, not personal you)? One has to temper concern with courage or it can easily lead to fear and crippling paranoia. We used to have many such debates when I was a scout leader and deciding which activities to involve the kids in.
 
Let's say that a mentor takes out a person with dependands. No money exchanges hands, the mentor says explicitly he is not instructor, doesn't represent himself as an instructor, knows nothing about instructing, warns of the consequences, wears an I am not an instructor T-shirt prior to the dive, you get my point.

Winning the case isn't going to save you from the attorney fees for defending you.

In a case such as this, the attorney suing you will be paid on contingency. That means that if he or she does not win the case, he or she gets nothing. If the case is frivolous, you can countersue for your own costs...and in this case, it will be considered frivolous.

To show you how effectively that works, go through all the cases you can find in history and show me a single case that fits your hypothetical situation.
 
As I understand recent threads in which attorneys did participate, the "Mentor" would have to act in some way the way a professional would act, but it can get murky. What follows is my lay understanding of what I have recently read and is not professional advice.

If the person accepts any kind of pay (even including, say, the price of a tank fill or lunch), then the person is in the role of a professional instructor and has liability for problems that may ensue. That's pretty clear.

If the "Mentor" says "let's go diving," and they plan and do the dive as a normal buddy team except that the Mentor offers suggestions, etc., then there is no more liability than a normal buddy would have. That's pretty clear.

If the Mentor projects himself or herself into a role that leads the other to depend upon him or her for guidance and protection, then that "Mentor" could be perceived as being in the role of an instructor and would have additional liability. That's pretty murky.

Thanks John, that was my understanding as well. The context of my statements were in relationship to the OPs question. The diver in question is being trained by the mentor. This does not imply suggestion but instruction.
 
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A ScubaBoard Staff Message...

In an effort to keep this thread "ToS friendly" as it applies to discussions in the Basic Scuba Forum, a few posts as well as those referencing them have been removed.
 
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