Now, the Titan's implosion could lead to lawsuits and a new push for regulatory changes, experts said. While it's unclear how likely these efforts are to succeed, previous high-profile tragedies, including the sinking of the Titanic itself, resulted in major legal fallout and public outcry.
Maritime law experts said it's likely the families of the passengers who died on Titan will file lawsuits. But the waiver their loved ones signed may present significant challenges, and it is unclear exactly where and how a lawsuit could play out. Part of the problem: it's unclear where a lawsuit could even be filed.
"I would be surprised if there isn't litigation arising from this disaster, but I think they've got a difficult road ahead of them," said Martin Davies, director of the Maritime Law Center at Tulane University in Louisiana. Read more here.
The former director of marine operations for OceanGate warned five years ago that its hull and safety monitoring system might only show a problem “milliseconds before an implosion — and would not detect any existing flaws prior to putting pressure onto the hull.”
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