Page 28 - Pierce County Lawyer - January February 2024

body and could result in physical injury, disability, emotional trauma, or death. When diving below the ocean surface this vessel will be subject to extreme pressure, and any failure of the vessel while I am aboard could cause severe injury or death”.
TMZ.com scooped the world by being first to publish OceanGate’s release of liability agreement which everyone had to sign before stepping onto Titan or
its support ship, the MV Polar Prince. Naturally, I was curious to know its contents including whether it had a choice of law and forum clause as Titan was designed and built in Washington, registered in the Bahamas, but operated
in international waters. In the next
issue, we take a deep dive into express assumption of risk,22 the enforceability
of release of liability agreements, and whether it really is better in the Bahamas.
Nigel Malden is an attorney in Tacoma and can be reached at nm@nigelmaldenlaw.com
22 In Washington, a person expressly assumes a risk of harm if that person knows of the specific risk involved, understands its nature, and voluntarily consents to accept the risk by agreeing in advance to relieve the defendant of a duty of care owed to the person in relation to the specific risk. See WPI 13.04.
The author with Kate Winslet in a rowboat on Puget Sound last summer.
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28 PIERCE COUNTY LAWYER | January/February 2024