REMEMBER THE TITAN

     Now that the world knows the OceanGate Titan has imploded, killing everyone on board, the question arises whether there will be any lawsuits following this underwater disaster.

    The five who boarded the vessel on its ill-fated cruise to explore the wreck of the Titanic were all required to sign a waiver of liability, absolving the company of any liability for damages in the event of a disaster, and acknowledging the vessel was experimental, and going on this venture involved the risk of injury or death.

    There have been many articles written concerning mistakes that were made, and conscious choices by the company to engage in shortcuts and to disallow safety inspections before the voyage.

    There is no easy answer to this question.  

    Liability waivers are common on potentially hazardous ventures.  They are even common on trips that involve no apparent risk, just as a standard CYA practice by those owning the event.

    This will be a hard-fought battle in court.

    The validity of such a waiver is recognized by some states and not recognized by others; to this extent, the state in which the waiver was signed may affect the validity of the waiver.

    There are other avenues to get around these waivers which might or might not, in the end, be effective.  Was there full disclosure of the risks involved before the passengers signed the waiver?  Were the passengers given misleading information as to the construction or safety of the Titan before signing?  Did the passengers know about the shortcuts the company took in constructing the Titan?  Did the company avoid safety inspections as some have alleged, and if so, was this explained to the passengers?  Was there gross negligence on behalf of the company?  Since the wreck happened in international waters, and not within the territorial waters of the United States, how will this affect the jurisdiction in which the lawsuits can be brought?  

    Other issues concern who screwed up, OceanGate Expeditions, Ltd, or the actual manufacturer of the Titan?  How will the fact that OceanGate is registered in the Bahamas affect which laws apply?

    Another problem is that the man at the helm of OceanGate, Stockton Rush, died in the implosion.

    Another problem is that damages in the case of the wrongful death of these persons would certainly be many tens of millions of dollars, probably far in excess of the value of the company.  Certainly, a company of that size has insurance, but how much?  And would it cover this event?  

    I would hope so.

    Another problem is the gathering of evidence.  Currently, it is estimated that it costs about $250,000 per day to work on retrieving evidence from the scene.  Do any of the interested parties have the financial resources to retrieve the evidence necessary to definitively establish what happened and whose fault it was?  Who knows.

    I expect lawsuits to arise out of this disaster.  However, I am not confident these lawsuits would withstand the defense challenges I would expect to see.  I do, however, believe there will be some attempts to settle these lawsuits before trial for substantial sums of money.  The publicity is just too bad for OceanGate, and there are too many unknowns.