Family of French explorer who died in OceanGate's Titan submarine disaster sues for $50 million
The family of French explorer Paul-Henri Nargeolet on Tuesday filed a $50 million wrongful death lawsuit against OceanGate, the operator of a tourist submersible that catastrophically failed during an attempt to visit the wreckage of the Titanic.
Nargeolet was one of the Titan sub's five passengers on June 18, 2023 when it suffered a catastrophic pressure loss and imploded, causing the deaths of all on board. OceanGate had sold seats on the vessel for $250,000 each, billing the trip as a chance to "become one of the few to see the Titanic with your own eyes."
But following the incident, it emerged that industry experts had raised serious safety concerns about the project years earlier. For instance, one professional trade group warned in 2018 that OceanGate's experimental approach to the design of the Titan could lead to potentially "catastrophic" outcomes.
Known as "Mr. Titanic," Nargeolet participated in 37 dives to the Titanic site, the most of any diver in the world, according to the lawsuit. He was regarded as one of the world's most knowledgeable people about the famous wreck. Attorneys for his estate said in an emailed statement that the "doomed submersible" had a "troubled history," and that OceanGate failed to disclose key facts about the vessel and its durability.
"The lawsuit alleges serious issues with the Titan submersible," Tony Buzbee, one of the attorneys bringing the case, said in a statement. "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."
The lawsuit also alleges that OceanGate failed to disclose the Titan's flaws and purposely concealed its shortcomings to Nargeolet, even though he had been designated a member of the vessel's crew by the company. Nargeolet would not have participated in the voyage if he had been aware of the Titan's issues, the suit claims.
The other passengers who perished on the Titan were OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, whose estate is named in the lawsuit; British businessman Hamish Harding; and Dawood Hercules vice chairman Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman Dawood.
A spokesperson for OceanGate declined to comment on the lawsuit, which was filed Tuesday in King County, Washington.
Meanwhile, some attorneys said the suit faces serious legal hurdles, saying passengers were aware of the risks of boarding the sub.
"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."
The sub's video game controller
The lawsuit alleges that OceanGate CEO Rush took a "devil-may-care approach to safety" in designing the Titan. Rush compared himself to Apple CEO Steve Jobs or Tesla CEO Elon Musk, describing himself as an "industry disrupter," the lawsuit states.
That approach translated into the unconventional design of the Titan, which was piloted by a mass-produced Logitech video game controller, the type used with an Xbox or PlayStation game console. This controller was highlighted in a 2022 segment from "CBS Sunday Morning" correspondent David Pogue, when he noted that many of the elements of the sub felt "improvised" and described the vessel as having a "MacGyver jerry-riggedness."
The lawsuit also takes issue with the Titan's carbon fiber hull, pointing out that deep-sea vessels typically are fashioned from titanium, a material that can strengthen under repeated stress. By contrast, carbon fiber "breaks down over time under pressure," according to the lawsuit.
Because of that risk, Rush installed an "acoustic safety system" in the Titan, which was designed to detect the crackling noise that carbon fiber emits under excessive stress, alerting the pilot to ascend to the surface. But the lawsuit alleges that acoustic alert system was "nothing more than the detection of a possibly imminent failure."
Lawsuit: Titan's crew knew they were about to die
It was clear something was wrong with the dive about 90 minutes into the journey, when the sub was at a depth of about 3,500 meters, or just above the Titanic, the lawsuit states. At that point, the Titan "dropped weights," which indicated that the team was trying to abort the drive, and soon after that, the sub lost contact with its support ship at the water's surface.
The Titan's crew "would have realized exactly what was happening" because "Rush's vaunted 'acoustic safety system' would have alerted the crew that the carbon-fiber hull was cracking under extreme pressure – prompting the pilot to release weight and attempt to abort," the lawsuit alleges.
"Common sense dictates that the crew were well aware they were going to die, before dying," it claims. "By experts' reckoning, they would have continued to descend, in full knowledge of the vessel's irreversible failures, experiencing terror and mental anguish prior to the Titan ultimately imploding."
The exact point of failure on the Titan may never be known, however, the lawsuit said.
After the sub's implosion, the U.S. Coast Guard quickly convened a high-level investigation, which is ongoing. A key public hearing that is part of the investigation is scheduled to take place in September.
—With reporting by the Associated Press.