Forgotten at sea, scuba diver wins $1.68 million

LOS ANGELES — Daniel Carlock, a Santa Monica, Calif., aerospace engineer, prayed to God not to let him die after he was abandoned floating in the ocean 12 miles off Long Beach by leaders of a scuba-diving excursion.

But after nearly five hours, surrounded by thick fog, "I had this feeling my spirit was getting ready to vacate my body," he recalled.

On Friday, a Los Angeles County Superior Court jury awarded Carlock $1.68 million in damages in his five-year legal battle against Venice, Calif.-based Ocean Adventures Dive and Long Beach-based Sundiver Charters.

The jury heard testimony that Carlock, 45 at the time of the 2004 incident, had suffered post-traumatic stress disorder and developed skin cancer from exposure.

"It has been an ordeal," he said as he celebrated at a Newport Beach restaurant with his wife, Anne. "But I wanted to seek changes in the scuba industry. Others will benefit."

The Sundiver, carrying 20 scuba divers, was staging a dive near the oil rig Eureka when Carlock surfaced 400 feet from the vessel after having trouble equalizing the pressure in his ears.

He said he tried to swim back to the boat but got cramps in his legs. He blew on his safety whistle and waved a yellow inflatable diving sausage, but the others on the vessel did not see him and no one noticed he was gone.

Despite his absence, a dive master for Ocean Adventures marked him on the dive roster as on the boat.

Then, to escape strong currents, the boat moved to a second dive site seven miles away. Once the vessel was there, Carlock was again marked on the roster as having taken a second dive, although he was bobbing alone in the ocean miles away.

It wasn't until more than three hours later that the crew realized he was missing and the Sundiver's captain radioed the Coast Guard. Rescue workers rushed to the second dive site.

Meanwhile, south of the first dive site, Carlock was drifting in strong currents with "the feeling that I was going to die."

The Coast Guard never did find Carlock. He was rescued seven miles off Newport Beach by the Argus, a tall ship carrying a group of Boy Scouts. The ship had changed course to avoid colliding with a freighter; otherwise it would not have been in sight of Carlock.

A 15-year-old Scout who happened to be looking through binoculars saw Carlock.

After a 23-day trial and 2 ½ days of deliberations, the jury assessed total damages in the negligence suit at $2 million. But it reduced Carlock's award on the grounds he was partly responsible because he had been told to surface closer to the boat.

"Dan has changed the industry's safety standards so that other divers won't be left out in the ocean and endure this kind of terror," said Carlock's attorney, Scott Koepke.

Lawyers for the companies had contended that by participating in the dive, Carlock had assumed certain risks, thereby waiving his right to hold operators responsible. But a judge refused to dismiss the case, saying that being abandoned at sea is not a risk inherent in the sport.