Posted by MHK on November 20, 2000 at 15:52:32:
In Reply to: Any legal lawyer types out there? posted by Gerry on November 20, 2000 at 15:38:57:
Gerry,
I start out by saying that I'm NOT a lawyer ( thank God ;-) ), however on behalf of many of my clients I have had an occasional scrap or two with the judicial process and I have a pretty good handle on these matters, but I also invite a lawyer to comment..
But I think it would be a mistake to incorprate mandatory ADR's into dive waivers for the following reasons:
1) The track record of victories using the standard waivers is pretty good and more often that not you get a summary judgement, which means no trial at all your lawyer puts the waiver in play and the judge rules on the merits of teh waiver and not necessarily the facts;
2) ADR's are confidential and may not be used for future precedental value. Accordingly, what is now a very public reluctance to take on the dive industry's legal council could disappear and we wouldn't have the body of case law that currently rules in our favor to look back on as precedent;
I'm sure there are more reasons but as I said I'm not a lawyer, perhaps someone can call Vincencia & Buckley and find out more...
Later