Scuba Diving Lawsuit in 2024

If you are underwater and your equipment suddenly malfunctions or the oxygen tank stops working, then you are out of luck. This could give rise to a negligence suit against the company from which you rented the equipment. Alternatively, it could mean a product liability suit against the company that created the equipment.

Under products liability law, the court investigates the actions, omissions, and conduct of a party that manufactured or marketed the product. Here, the victim needs to illustrate that the manufacturer, distributor, or seller failed to act reasonably in the design, testing, distribution, labeling, assembly, or manufacture of a product. As a result, this failure was the cause of the victim’s harm. Furthermore, those who put a product into the stream of commerce ensure that it is safe, no matter where it ends up.

Diving agencies have standards and procedures so that the divers don’t get hurt on their watch. These agencies have standardized training to reduce both the number of injuries and their liability. In addition, a dive shop or charter company will be found legally at fault if it fails to provide the legally agreed-upon services and that specific failure was the cause of the victim’s injuries. 

The agencies write clear contracts to establish these relationships so that the burden is on the victim to prove that the agency or charter company acted in such a way that they violated their standard of care. It’s best to speak with a scuba diving accident attorney who can review this contract in case the agency raises it as a defense.

A boat must be properly maintained to engage in dives and navigate to and from the dive site. In addition, it needs to be equipped with a fathometer, medical equipment, maritime communications devices, and emergency oxygen.

 It should also have a coast guard-approved crew and a divemaster ready to supervise the dive and administer medical care if needed. Without these, a negligence suit can open up against the operator of the vessel and the diving organizer.

If your teacher doesn’t provide proper instruction and you end up injured or dead because of a scuba diving accident.

It also opens the door for employer liability under the doctrine called respondeat superior. This means that if an employee is negligent in the scope of their employment and messes up on company time, the employer is generally responsible. It likely means more for the victim in the way of recovering damages.

It is also up to a diving instructor to determine whether a swimmer is medically fit to dive. If someone isn’t (for instance, if the swimmer were severely asthmatic and had an attack underwater far away from a rescue inhaler), that instructor should withhold certification, as that swimmer is not proficient to handle the challenges of scuba diving. Any harm that came to the swimmer would fall back onto the instructor.

If two divers go out together, they naturally assume a legal relationship. For instance, the one with more experience takes responsibility for the less-experienced diver (or the instructor for the student, if this were with a school). Furthermore, if the more experienced of the two acts in a way or fails to act in a way that causes harm to the other diver, like taking him somewhere he could not possibly dive because he didn’t have the experience, like a deep cave, or refusing to share oxygen, these could be grounds for negligence.

The problem with many scuba diving agencies is that they are profit-motivated. This means that they try to appeal to as many people as possible, regardless of whether they should be diving. This has led to the creation of “no certification scuba adventures” or “fun dives,” which tout a quick and easy jaunt under the water for everyone! This could be dangerous because the fun diver might not even be fit for the experience.