Pilot along with the crew of Titanic Submersible perished due to catastrophic implosion. AP
Pilot along with the crew of Titanic Submersible perished due to catastrophic implosion. AP
Hours after officials called quits on search and rescue operations to find the Titan submersible after the US Coast Guard found its debris on the ocean floor on Thursday, legal experts say that families of the victims are still eligible to file lawsuits against the vessel’s owner.
Experts said that despite the existence of liability waivers signed by the five passengers on board, OceanGate, the company that crafted the submersible, can still be charged with lawsuits by the victim’s families.
Titan dived into the deep ocean on Sunday, following which it lost all communications and vanished on the same day. After a week-long search of the survivors, the US Coast Guard confirmed that their deaths were caused by a “catastrophic implosion.”
The passengers, who paid as much as $250,000 each for the journey to 12,500 feet (3,810 meters) below the surface, are believed to have signed liability waivers. A CBS reporter who made the trip with OceanGate Expeditions in July 2022 reported that the waiver he signed mentioned the possibility of death three times on the first page alone.
However, waivers like this are not always ironclad and a judge can easily dismiss them if they are provided with evidence of gross negligence or hazards that were not fully disclosed.
A personal injury attorney and maritime law expert Matthew D Shaffer said, “If there were aspects of the design or construction of this vessel that were kept from the passengers or it was knowingly operated despite information that it was not suitable for this dive, that would absolutely go against the validity of the waiver.”
On the other hand, there is a possibility that OceanGate could argue that it was not grossly negligent. They can also claim that the waivers are valid as they fully described the dangers inherent in plumbing the deepest reaches of the ocean in a submersible the size of a minivan.
Meanwhile, the degree of any potential negligence can still determine the causes of the disaster. The case is currently under investigation.
“There are so many different examples of what families might still have claims for despite the waivers, but until we know the cause we can’t determine whether the waivers apply,” said personal injury lawyer Joseph Low of California.
Families could also seek damages from any outside parties that designed, helped build, or made components for the Titan if they were found to be negligent and a cause of the implosion.
With inputs from Reuters
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