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Titanic submersible lost at sea raises legal questions for high-risk businesses
NBC ^ | 6/22/23 | Tom Wile

Posted on 06/22/2023 11:40:24 AM PDT by DallasBiff

What happens when a dangerous activity goes wrong? The existence of a waiver form may not deter a wrongful death lawsuit.

The decision by five people to undertake a dangerous and most likely ill-fated undersea voyage to visit the wreck of the Titanic is raising questions on many fronts.

What prompted the travelers? A shared sense of adventure and a curiosity about the sunken Titanic wreckage — itself a 111-year-old deep-sea monument.

Led by OceanGate Expeditions CEO Stockton Rush, the passengers — British businessman Hamish Harding; Shahzada Dawood who is a member of a wealthy Pakistani family along with his son, Suleman; and Paul Henry "P.H." Nargeolet, a French seafarer and Titanic expert — boarded the Titan, a carbon-fiber submersible vessel, on Sunday, June 18.

(Excerpt) Read more at nbcnews.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Chit/Chat
KEYWORDS: canada; davyjoneslocker; lawyerstotherescue; nannystatepromo; oceangateexpeditions; socialismsaves; titanic
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To: DallasBiff

Nope. Consent forms may not stand up in court.
Experts say that no set rubric determines whether a business will have to pay damages in the event of a mishap and that most operators buy liability insurance anyway because the waiver forms they ask clients to sign may not ultimately be enforceable.

In the U.S., whether a business operator becomes liable for a catastrophe can depend on the laws of the state where the business operates or even a judge’s interpretation of the waiver form, said Kenneth S. Abraham, a distinguished professor of law at the University of Virginia.


21 posted on 06/22/2023 12:19:05 PM PDT by JayGalt (Convenience is the bait in which the true poison is concealed.)
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To: P-Marlowe

The owner was on the sub. He is dead. This company is over. It has taken it’s website down.

The best that could come out of this is that no vessel as crappy as this thing will ever be allowed to sell a ride to anywhere. Better yet, people can see how idiotic it is to go on a vessel that is unsafe and has been declared unsafe by many others.


22 posted on 06/22/2023 12:26:10 PM PDT by dforest
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To: dforest

And I am pretty darned sure that their company had no liability insurance.

Maybe they can sue Home Depot since the boat was put together using materials that Home Depot provided…..
/sarc


23 posted on 06/22/2023 12:29:30 PM PDT by P-Marlowe (I got the <ΙΧΘΥΣ>< variant. Catch it. John 3:16)
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To: P-Marlowe
It doesn’t matter. They were defrauded.

And criminal negligence voids any waiver.

So you are saying, that 2 billionaires, who didn't look into their dangerous journey indepently, are totally innocent?

They knew they were going on a dangerous journey, and signed the waiver.

24 posted on 06/22/2023 12:30:00 PM PDT by DallasBiff (Apology not accepted.la is not the sharpest knife in the drawer)
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To: dforest

Seriously, let The Titanic be. Wasn’t that crappy movie enough?


25 posted on 06/22/2023 12:30:51 PM PDT by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: DallasBiff

When a submarine gets pressure crushed and implodes/explodes, it is *noisy*. Military submarines can detect much fainter noises by several factors.

Thus, when in due time they return to port, several navies should examine their recordings to see if and when the Titanic submarine when ‘pop’.


26 posted on 06/22/2023 12:32:44 PM PDT by yefragetuwrabrumuy ("All he had was a handgun. Why did you think that was a threat?" --Rittenhouse Prosecutor)
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To: Revel

“Since they lied about it being capable of going to 4000 meters then any waiver is going to be worthless.”

It was capable of going to 4000 meters, just not in one piece.


27 posted on 06/22/2023 12:45:31 PM PDT by Brooklyn Attitude (I went to bed on November 3rd 2020 and woke up in 1984.)
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To: DallasBiff

No a customer (regardless of their net worth) cannot sign away liability for injury due to fraud or criminal negligence.

But since there are no deep pockets to seek compensation, it’s a moot point.

Nobody is going to sue anybody. But somebody might go to jail.


28 posted on 06/22/2023 12:57:40 PM PDT by P-Marlowe (I got the <ΙΧΘΥΣ>< variant. Catch it. John 3:16)
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To: Revel

Technically it went to 4000 meters.

There was no guarantee they would one back up.


29 posted on 06/22/2023 12:58:48 PM PDT by sloanrb
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To: FoxInSocks

“How do you know the depth they reached before the vessel was destroyed?”

I don’t think he does, but the point being it was going to go to a depth well below what it was evidently rated for. Need was to say, that was an unwise choice.


30 posted on 06/22/2023 1:00:02 PM PDT by GrumpyOldGuy
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To: sloanrb

Go back up.

Stupid autocorrect.


31 posted on 06/22/2023 1:00:23 PM PDT by sloanrb
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To: P-Marlowe
No a customer (regardless of their net worth) cannot sign away liability for injury due to fraud or criminal negligence.

But since there are no deep pockets to seek compensation, it’s a moot point

So you are saying, that 2 billionaires are innocent, even after signing a waiver, for their dangerous journey, which they willingly went on.

Whewww!

32 posted on 06/22/2023 1:06:29 PM PDT by DallasBiff (Apology not accepted.la is not the sharpest knife in the drawer)
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To: DallasBiff

FWIW everyone on that boat committed suicide.

That doesn’t mean there wasn’t criminal negligence. And criminal negligence voids any waiver. Period.

What law school did you flunk out of?


33 posted on 06/22/2023 1:13:45 PM PDT by P-Marlowe (I got the <ΙΧΘΥΣ>< variant. Catch it. John 3:16)
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To: DallasBiff

Hadn’t this same vessel made this descent successfully before? The previous passengers knew it was dangerous when they went, and they communicated the risks to the ones who were about to go. They were all aware of the risks and willingly went because they were thrill seekers. Or maybe they wanted to DIE doing something they loved rather than succumb to the vaxx or global warming or the possibility of being crushed under a bridge made by DIE architects. Who knows.


34 posted on 06/22/2023 1:22:57 PM PDT by petitfour (APPEAL TO HEAVEN)
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To: P-Marlowe
What law school did you flunk out of?

Well oblivousy, not the Harvard Law school, where you got your "education".

You hate common sense.

35 posted on 06/22/2023 1:25:53 PM PDT by DallasBiff (Apology not accepted.la is not the sharpest knife in the drawer)
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To: DallasBiff
You hate common sense.

I learned early on in my first semester in law school that common sense has no relevance to the law.

Laws (more these days than in the past) are created by elected idiots who lack common sense or good judgment.

Courts exist to apply and interpret those idiotic laws. And most judges lack common sense as well. If they ever had it, it was rooted out of them in law school.

36 posted on 06/22/2023 1:55:33 PM PDT by P-Marlowe (I got the <ΙΧΘΥΣ>< variant. Catch it. John 3:16)
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To: ryderann

I don’t think anyone would insure a thing like that.


37 posted on 06/22/2023 1:57:35 PM PDT by Tijeras_Slim
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To: mewzilla

So who wanted that billionaire guy dead?


38 posted on 06/22/2023 1:59:27 PM PDT by oldasrocks (uit )
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To: DallasBiff

They raised their own risks by being racist against white people and the billionaires were gullible enough to jump on

Reap sow dead


39 posted on 06/22/2023 2:23:21 PM PDT by NWFree (Sigma male 🤪)
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To: dfwgator

“ Seriously, let The Titanic be. Wasn’t that crappy movie enough?”

That’s what they say

I wouldn’t know have enough sense to stay clear


40 posted on 06/22/2023 2:26:39 PM PDT by NWFree (Sigma male 🤪)
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