Daniel Carlock, now 51, sued Ocean Adventures Dive Company, of Venice, and Sundiver Charters, of Long Beach, for negligence, infliction of emotional distress and fraud.
The vessel Sundiver carried 20 divers out to a dive site 12 miles offshore and. Despite surfacing an estimated 400ft from the dive boat, Carlock was not collected before the boat’s departure.
Carlock told the court that he could not fin back to the boat due to leg cramps. Crew did not pick up on his blown safety whistle and waved yellow SMB.
It was alleged that the dive master from Ocean Adventures clocked Carlock as having returned aboard even though he had not.
Further, the court heard that, upon a visit to another dive site before returning to port, the dive master again logged Carlock as going into and back out of the water, even though he was no longer aboard.
Carlock drifted for some four hours until found by chance by Boy Scouts on a boating trip.
It was claimed that Carlock had suffered post-traumatic stress disorder and skin cancer which developed after exposure to the sun during his drift.
Following the 23-day trial which ended a five-year legal battle, Carlock, an aerospace engineer from Santa Monica, told the Los Angeles Times:
"It has been an ordeal. But I wanted to seek changes in the scuba industry. Others will benefit."
Archive | 
Win a Luxfer pony cylinder
