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MEET the experts
David Concannon, J.D.,
is a trial attorney who represents a variety of clients in
the dive industry in personal injury, products liability and wrongful death litigation. Concannon
investigates a number of scuba fatalities every year and has led panel discussions on accident
investigations and scuba fatalities at DAN’s Recreational Diving Fatalities Workshop and
Rebreather Forum 3.0 in 2012.
Michael Steidley
has served as an expert witness. He is an active PADI Course
Director, NAUI Instructor, DAN Instructor Examiner, Visual Cylinder Inspector Instructor
Trainer for the Professional Scuba Inspectors Organization and a TDI Instructor Trainer for
semiclosed rebreathers, decompression procedures and extended range.
Stephen Hewitt, J.D.,
a trial lawyer of 30 years, practices in California and Hawaii,
representing dive professionals, associations and manufacturers. He has served on industry
committees, panels and lectures and writes on dive law, authoring “Survey of Sport and
Leisure Waiver and Release Law in the United States” among other works.
Concannon:
The recent case of DeWolf v. Kohler, which resulted in a defense
verdict in favor of a charter operator to the Andrea Doria wreck, was a landmark
decision. The diver died of a heart condition, which he failed to disclose, shortly
after entering the water. The diver’s family sued the trip leader, dive boat, a
training agency, the diver’s instructor and a scuba equipment manufacturer,
alleging that they had a duty to ensure the diver’s safety underwater and seeking
$16 million. The practice of technical diving and the concept of accepting
personal responsibility were put on trial. The jury found that the trip leader was
not responsible for ensuring the diver’s safety underwater and made an additional
finding that the diver specifically assumed the risk of his injuries, including death,
and he was solely responsible for causing his own death.
Few diving cases ever go to trial, especially when so much money and
the practices of an entire industry are at stake. Even fewer result in such an
astounding verdict. After the trial the jury specifically told the parties that
they wanted their verdict to send the message to not only divers but all people
who engage in risky activities that they — and nobody else — are responsible
for ensuring their own safety.
AD
Availability of oxygen and other first-aid supplies is another means by which dive operators
support diver safety.
Peter A. Hughes,
Founder
LIVE-ABOARDS!
DESTINATIONS!
Utila, Bay Islands
