Explorer's family could have difficulty winning their lawsuit against Titan sub owner, experts say

FILE - This undated image provided by OceanGate Expeditions in June 2021 shows the company's Titan submersible. (OceanGate Expeditions via AP, File)

PORTLAND, Maine — A lawsuit stemming from the Titan submersible disaster felt inevitable, but winning a big judgment against the owner of the vessel could be very difficult, legal experts said on Thursday.

The family of French explorer Paul-Henri Nargeolet, one of five people who died aboard the submersible in June 2023, filed a more than US$50 million civil lawsuit against submersible owner OceanGate earlier this week. Nargeolet's estate said in the lawsuit that the crew aboard the sub experienced "terror and mental anguish" before the sub imploded and its operator was guilty of gross negligence.

Now comes the hard part -- winning in court.

Legal experts said Nargeolet's estate may get some money from the lawsuit, but it could be a fraction of the amount sought. It's also unclear if there will be any money available, as OceanGate has since shut down operations, they said.

Some say that the passengers onboard the Titan assumed risk when they got aboard an experimental submersible headed for the Titanic wreck site.

"They made choices to go do this, and it seems to me it was a 50/50 shot anyway it was going to work," said John Perlstein, a personal injury lawyer in California and Nevada. "They bear responsibility too, as well as the guy who built and piloted this thing."

Nargeolet's estate filed its lawsuit on Tuesday in King County, Washington, as OceanGate was a Washington-based company. A spokesperson for OceanGate declined to comment on aspects of the lawsuit.

Attorneys for Nargeolet's estate are hinging their case in part on the emotional and mental pain of the passengers on board the Titan. The attorneys, with the Buzbee Law Firm in Houston, Texas, said that the crew "were well aware they were going to die, before dying," since they dropped weights about 90 minutes into the dive.

But that could be hard to prove, said Richard Daynard, distinguished professor of law at Northeastern University in Boston. Attorneys will have a difficult time demonstrating that the implosion and resulting deaths were not instantaneous, he said.

It could, however, be possible to prove negligence, Daynard said. But even that doesn't guarantee a big-money judgment, he said.

"A settlement is a possibility, but presumably if the case has a very tiny chance of winning, the settlement will be a tiny fraction of the amount sought," Daynard said.

The Titan made its final dive on June 18, 2023, and lost contact with its support vessel about two hours later. After a search and rescue mission that drew international attention, the Titan wreckage was found on the ocean floor about 984 feet (300 metres) off the bow of the Titanic, about 435 miles (700 kilometres) south of St. John's, Newfoundland.

OceanGate CEO and cofounder Stockton Rush was operating the Titan when it imploded. In addition to Rush and Nargeolet, the implosion killed British adventurer Hamish Harding and two members of a prominent Pakistani family, Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman Dawood. No one on board survived.

It wasn't surprising to see a lawsuit filed stemming from the Titan case, but Nargeolet's estate could be suing a company that has little assets, said Ted Spaulding, an Atlanta-based personal injury attorney. He characterized the lawsuit as a "Hail Mary" attempt at relief.

"I'm not sure there is anyone else to sue but OceanGate in this case. Maybe they could have sued the CEO and co-founder of the company Stockton Rush if he had assets, but he died on the submersible too," Spaulding said.

Nargeolet was a veteran explorer known as "Mr. Titanic" who participated in 37 dives to the Titanic site, the most of any diver in the world, according to the lawsuit. His death was mourned around the world by members of the undersea exploration community.

There is an ongoing, high-level investigation into the Titan's implosion, which the U.S. Coast Guard quickly convened after the disaster. A key public hearing that is part of the investigation is scheduled to take place in September.