Family Awarded $12 Million in Boat Accident Settlement
A Delaware family has been awarded $12 million dollars after settling a civil lawsuit, filed by the family of a father and son, who suffered severe head injuries when they were struck by a dive boat’s propellers.
According to court documents, Calvin Adkins, then 11, and his father, Jared C. Adkins, then 39, both of Harrington, Delaware, were struck by a 46-foot Big Dipper boat’s propellers while scuba diving in Conch Reef, just south of Key Largo, Florida in August 2011. In April 2014, the family filed a lawsuit in federal court against the owners of the Big Dipper dive boat, an Upper Keys charter boat business, and the Florida Keys Dive Center in Tavernier, Florida. According to Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission reports of the incident, the Adkins were taking part in a “drift dive” with about 15 other people, which means divers move with the current instead of staying in one area. The divers also were “live boating,” which means the boat was not anchored, but moving. The lawsuit states that the Captain, John Brady, left the engines running while the crew put passengers into the water at three different locations. The Adkins’ entered the water at the last location with their scuba gear, under the direction of the crew. The Adkins’ were in the water off the stern of the Big Dipper when it ran them over.
The lawsuit claims that the Big Dipper backed up over Calvin and Jared, striking Calvin in the head, fracturing his skull. Calvin had to undergo emergency surgery where his skull was removed so his brain could swell without being squeezed. He has undergone many other procedures since and faces a lifetime of medical care relating to the accident. Calvin’s father, Jared, was also hit by the boat’s propellers in the head and body. Jared has suffered “serious, debilitating and permanent injuries.” The family was represented by John Hickey of Miami, who stated, “When (the Adkins) were in the transom of the vessel and after they jumped into the water, the master and his mate and divemaster did not communicate properly with each other and did not maintain a proper lookout. Yet, the master put the engines in reverse and moved the vessel back over the two divers.”
Hickey alleged the position of life rafts and layout of the Big Dipper made it so that “the person sitting at the helm could not see the transom of the vessel or anyone in the transom of the vessel.” He claimed the charter company failed to provide a safe vessel due to those limitations, failed to keep a proper lookout of divers and failed to provide a properly trained captain and crew, which ultimately led to the incident. Hickey also alleges the Florida Keys Dive Center “misrepresented” facts on its website, mainly that “the personnel were not all employed by and were not ‘of’ the Florida Keys Dive Center.”
The Upper Keys charter boat business and the Florida Keys Dive Center in Tavernier have agreed the the $12 million dollar lawsuit, awarding Calvin $11 million and his father, Jared $1 million dollars for economic and non-economic damages, including pain, suffering and past and future loss of income.
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