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OceanGate’s Titan submersible and its crew were lost during an expedition to the Titanic. (OceanGate Photo)
The family of Titanic explorer Paul-Henri Nargeolet is seeking more than $50 million in damages in a lawsuit targeting Everett, Wash.-based OceanGate and other companies. The suit, filed in King County Superior Court, marks the beginning of what’s likely to be a complicated and drawn-out legal battle in the aftermath of last year’s loss of OceanGate’s Titan submersible and its crew.
Nargeolet, a veteran of more than 35 Titanic dives, was one of the five people aboard Titan who died in June 2023 when the sub underwent a catastrophic implosion during its final descent to the Titanic wreck in the North Atlantic. The other victims were British aviation executive Hamish Harding; Pakistani-born business executive Shahzada Dawood and his son, Suleman; and OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, who was piloting the sub.
In addition to OceanGate, defendants in the suit include Rush’s estate, former OceanGate director of engineering Tony Nissen and three companies said to have participated in Titan’s construction. Those companies are Mukilteo, Wash.-based Electroimpact, Sedro-Woolley, Wash.-based Janicki Industries and California-based Hydrospace Group.
We’ve reached out to the defendants via email and LinkedIn messages, and will update this report with any replies we receive. For what it’s worth, OceanGate suspended all exploration and commercial operations after last year’s tragedy. (Update: Janicki Industries says it has not yet seen the complaint and cannot speak to it at this time.)
The 28-page complaint, filed on Tuesday, alleges that OceanGate failed to disclose key facts about the condition and durability of the Titan sub. “Many of the particulars about the vessel’s flaws and shortcomings were not disclosed and were purposely concealed,” the lawsuit says.
Concerns about Titan’s seaworthiness have been detailed in news reports that came out after last year’s loss of the sub. Those concerns focused on whether the sub’s carbon-composite hull could safely withstand repeated exposures to the high-pressure environment thousands of meters beneath the sea surface; whether the bonds between the between the hull, the titanium end caps and the vessel’s viewport were strong enough; and whether corners were cut when it came to OceanGate’s safety systems.
The lawsuit alleges that OceanGate knew Titan was “unreasonably dangerous” but failed to disclose that to the crew, including Nargeolet. Electroimpact and Janicki Industries are named because they processed the carbon-fiber material for the hull, while Hydrospace Group manufactured the acrylic viewport.
“I think it is telling that even though the University of Washington and Boeing had key roles in the design of previous but similar versions of the Titan, both have recently disclaimed any involvement at all in the submersible model that imploded,” Tony Buzbee, one of the attorneys bringing the case, said in a news release.
“We are hopeful that through this lawsuit we can get answers for the family as to exactly how this happened, who all were involved, and how those involved could allow this to happen,” Buzbee said.
The lawsuit alleges that Nargeolet “sustained conscious pre-death pain and suffering” as the sub failed, and that his family members “have suffered enormous mental anguish, loss of financial support, and loss of inheritance.” In an interview with The Times of London, published in June, one of Nargeolet’s children, Sidonie Nargeolet, said that she’s wept every day for the past year.
According to the complaint, the monetary value of the damages was “not now precisely known” but would be in excess of $50 million. A trial by jury was requested.
La Marine salue la mémoire du CF(ER) Paul-Henri Nargeolet, tragiquement disparu en mer à bord du sous-marin Titan, et s’associe à la douleur de sa famille et de ses proches. pic.twitter.com/I5iE9HZnlN— Marine nationale (@MarineNationale) June 23, 2023
Although this appears to be the first lawsuit to be filed against parties involved in the OceanGate tragedy, it will almost certainly not be the last. An investigation led by the U.S. Coast Guard is still in progress and hasn’t yet reached the point of releasing its findings and holding public hearings.
Buzbee and other attorneys are likely to face a host of challenges — including whether King County Superior Court is the proper venue for the case, and whether or not OceanGate’s disclosures warning about the risks associated with Titan’s dives were sufficient to cover liability.
There are also questions about the claim that Nargeolet and the other crew members suffered before they died. Jason Neubauer, the chairman of the Coast Guard’s Marine Board of Investigation, told The New York Times in June that his team “found no evidence” that crew members knew about their peril in advance, and apparently died instantaneously. He said he hoped his assurances would come as a consolation to the families of those who were lost.
