Winning the lawsuit against the owner of the Titan subtitle could be difficult, experts say

A lawsuit over the Titanic disaster felt inevitable, but winning a large judgment against the ship’s owner could be very difficult, legal experts said 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 $50 million civil lawsuit against the owner of the OceanGate submersible earlier this week. Nargeolet’s estate said in the lawsuit that the crew aboard the submarine experienced “terror and mental anguish” before the submarine exploded and that 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 suit, but it could be a fraction of the amount sought. It’s also unclear whether any money will be available because OceanGate has shut down operations, they said.

Some say the passengers aboard the Titan took a risk when they boarded an experimental submersible headed for the Titanic wreck site.

“They made the choice to do that, and it seems to me it was a 50/50 shot either way it was going to work,” said John Perlstein, a personal injury attorney in California and Nevada. “And they bear responsibility, as well as the guy who built and piloted this.”

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

Attorneys for Nargeolet’s estate are basing their case in part on the emotional and mental pain of the passengers aboard the Titan. The lawyers, from the Buzbee law firm in Houston, Texas, said the crew “knew they were going to die, before they died” because they dropped their weights about 90 minutes into the dive.

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

Still, it might 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 probably if the case has a very low chance of winning, the settlement will be a small fraction of the amount sought,” Daynard said.

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

OceanGate CEO and co-founder Stockton Rush was operating the Titan when it exploded. 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 as a result of the Titan case, but Nargeolet’s estate could sue a company that has little assets, said Ted Spaulding, a personal injury attorney in Atlanta. He characterized the trial as an attempt at “Hail Mary” relief.

“I’m not sure there is anyone else to sue besides OceanGate in this case. Maybe he could have sued the CEO and co-founder of Stockton Rush if he had the assets, but he also died on the submersible,” Spaulding said.

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

There is a high-level investigation into the Titan implosion, which the US Coast Guard convened quickly after the disaster. A key public hearing as part of the inquiry is scheduled to take place in September.

Photo: Photographer: Jason Redmond/AFP/Getty Images

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