Turnbough v. Ladner

754 So.2d 467 (1999)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

P had previously been certified as a scuba diver, but his certification had expired. P enrolled in a scuba diving class taught by D. D required P to execute a release in favor of her and the Gulfport Yacht Club in order to participate in the class. P questioned a fellow student who also happened to be an attorney who informed P that such releases were unenforceable. P executed the release. During check out dives, P began to feel the first effects of decompression sickness (the bends). P began experiencing a pain that he described as 'arthritic' in his joints. D eventually advised P to call a diver's hotline, which in turn instructed him to seek medical attention at a dive hospital. P received treatment for decompression sickness. P was told by the doctors at the hospital who ran the dive profile that the dive was too long, and there should have been a decompression stop before the divers surfaced. P was told that he could never dive again. Ebro, a scuba expert in water safety and scuba diving, opined that D was negligent in planning the depths of the dives as well as in failing to make safety stops and that these errors significantly increased the risk that her students might suffer decompression illness. P sued D and D filed a motion for summary judgment. The circuit court dismissed the case. P appealed, asserting that the release should be declared void as against public policy. The Court of Appeals found that the release was a contract of a purely personal nature and did not violate public policy because scuba diving does not implicate a public concern. P appealed.