Page 27 - Pierce County Lawyer - January February 2024

“The collaboration resulted in a steel- hulled vessel, named the Cyclops 1, that can travel to 500 meters depth, which
is far shallower than the depths that OceanGate’s TITAN submersible traveled to. As stated earlier, the Laboratory was not involved in the design, engineering or testing of the TITAN submersible used in the RMS TITANIC expedition.”
The spokesperson added that OceanGate used tanks at the UW School of Oceanography on a contract basis for nine tests between 2016 and 2022 but
no university researchers were involved. “UW personnel did not provide
any verification or validation of any OceanGate equipment as a result of those tests.”14
Lochridge took submersible safety and his job duties seriously. He expressed
the same concerns that others had
about Titan’s carbon fiber hull but no
one listened. On January 18, 2018, he gave Stockton Rush a “Quality Control Inspection Report,” which criticized Titan’s design and construction and
lack of adequate testing, inspection, and certification.16 In the report, Lochridge said that, if corrective action was not taken immediately, he would not approve dives scheduled for the Bahamas.
Rush and others met with Lockridge the next day to discuss his concerns. During the meeting, Lochridge:
“refused to accept the veracity of information provided by the company’s lead engineer and repeatedly stated he did not approve of OceanGate’s research and development plans, insisting for example, that the company obtain a scan of the hull of Titan’s experimental vessel prototype to detect potential flaws rather than relying on acoustic monitoring despite assurances from OceanGate’s engineer that the acoustic monitoring and incremental testing protocols were, in fact, better suited to detect vessel safety issues, if any.”17
Lochridge was terminated and given ten minutes to clean out his desk. On June 26, 2018, the company filed a lawsuit against Lochridge in Snohomish County Superior Court alleging breach of contract, fraud, and wrongful disclosure of trade secrets.18 The complaint accused Lochridge of setting up his termination to collect unemployment benefits and disclosing confidential and proprietary information to the Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) in an effort to masquerade as a whistleblower.
The case was removed to federal court19 and Lochridge counterclaimed for retaliatory discharge in violation of public policy.20 More disturbing facts
16 Id.
17 Plaintiff’s complaint filed in OceanGate, Inc. v.
Lochridge, Snohomish County Superior Court, Cause # 18-2-05651-31.
18 Id.
19 No. 2:18-cv-01083 RAJ
20 See Martin v. Gonzaga Univ., 191 Wn.2d 712 (2018); Gardner v. Loomis Armored Inc., 128 Wash. 2d 931 (1996); Wilmot v. Kaiser Aluminum & Chemical Corp., 118 Wn.2d 468 (1991).
were revealed including that Titan’s acrylic viewport was rated safe to 1,300 meters, not 4,000 meters as advertised by OceanGate, because the experimental design fell outside the Pressure Vessels for Human Occupancy (“PVHO”) standards published by the International Conference on Advanced Materials Science and Engineering (AMSE). Furthermore, a one-third scale model
of Titan imploded during testing, and Lochridge observed cracks in Titan’s hull and its carbon fiber end samples.
No depositions were taken and no motions were filed. The Lochridge case settled out of court on undisclosed terms in November 2018. Shortly thereafter, OceanGate announced it was testing Titan in the Everett marina and would soon begin shallow-water trials in Puget Sound.21
American Photo Archive/Alamy.
Titan had two titanium hemispheres or end caps joined to a carbon fiber wound cylinder.
The Whistleblower
From May 2015 to January 2018, David Lochridge worked for OceanGate as chief submersible pilot and director of marine operations which made him responsible for crew and client safety during all surface and underwater operations.
"A Scotsman who had spent three decades as a submersible pilot and an engineer— first in the Royal Navy, then as a private contractor, Lochridge had worked all over the world: on offshore wind farms in the North Sea; on subsea-cables installations in the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific oceans; on manned submarine trials with the Swedish Navy; on submarine-rescue operations for the navies of Britain and Singapore.”15
14 Id.
15 Casey, S. (August 17, 2023). The Titan submersible
disaster was years in the making, new details reveal. Vanity Fair.
Preparing to launch Titan. American Photo Archive / Alamy Stock Photo
The MOTHER of All
Release Agreements
"You will ride in an experimental submersible vessel that has not been approved or certified by any regulatory
Continued on next page.
21 Taub, Ben. (July 1, 2023). The Titan submersible was an accident waiting to happen. The New Yorker. Puget Sound extends from Deception Pass in the north to Olympia in the south. Its average depth is 450 feet and its maximum depth, off Jefferson Point between Indianola and Kingston, is 930 feet. Wikipedia.
January/February 2024 | PIERCE COUNTY LAWYER 27