Dive masks cuts off girls nose?

[Sarah]

From J Pitkin:

"The family of an 8-year-old Beavercreek girl is suing a scuba-equipment company after a broken diving mask sliced off her nose.

According to a lawsuit filed May 30 in Multnomah County Circuit Court, Lindsey Fox was swimming in her family's pool on July 5, 2006, when the mask shattered, amputating the girl's nose and leaving her with multiple facial lacerations.

According to the lawsuit, the mask was defective because it used glass instead of plastic for the lens, the glass was improperly tempered, and it was designed with a single piece of glass instead of two for greater flexibility.

The lawsuit claims the mask was made by American Underwater Products, a San Leandro, Calif.-based company doing business as Oceanic Worldwide. (One of the company's Shadow Series masks is pictured here, but it's unclear from the lawsuit which model the girl was wearing.)

The suit filed by lawyer James Breathouwer seeks $28,414 to cover Fox's medical expenses, including reconstructive surgery, plus $750,000 for pain and suffering. Oceanic Worldwide has not yet returned a phone call seeking comment."


We deleted the mask photo as it was speculative.

Comments?

[hbh2oguard]

This is crazy! The girl probably fell or something which caused the mask to break. It won't just shatter by its self under no pressure, one window or two...it doesn't matter. I'd really like to see the actual pic though. Maybe the parents should have bought a plastic one instead of glass if they're going to bring it up now.

[acelockco]

Wow, that is the dumbest thing I have seen in a while. There is no way the mask broke from normal use, I wonder what the real story was? Guess we will never know the truth.

The fact is that under any scuba dive there is no pressure on the mask glass. As soon as a diver breathes a little air out of their nose, the mask will be equalized. If the pressure did build your head would be in serious pain way before the glass broke, surely enough to make you go to the surface. I am sure there was some type of impact involved.

Actually now that I think about it, I am sure it was not being used for SCUBA because she is 8 years old and is not old enough to be certified, so then what type of unintended activity was she using this SCUBA mask for?

[The Publisher]

She was imitating some head-butt moves she saw on WWF wrestling that she was practicing upon the concrete edge of the pool.

[hbh2oguard]

yea very true about the pressure thing but I have seen some pretty bad bug eyes and mask lines after the dive and some especially new divers don't know it. I was helping out with some check out dives a while back and the student didn't equialize it and it was stuck on the only way was to ascend to equalize it. So they can with stand some pressure without breaking.

[hbh2oguard]

She was imitating some head-butt moves she saw on WWF wrestling that she was practicing upon the concrete edge of the pool.

Last I heard it was WWE NOT a fan nor have I ever seen an episode but I know the world widlife fund sued them for the WWF name. Kind of suprised they won so what's WWE stand for?

[The Publisher]

Got it:

" The former World Wrestling Federation is now World Wrestling Entertainment.

>files this away under "useless things to know nobody cares about"

[hbh2oguard]

Got it:

" The former World Wrestling Federation is now World Wrestling Entertainment.

>files this away under "useless things to know nobody cares about"

Fully agreed! Entertainment....no that's a joke

[seasnake]

Yeh, it says she was in the family pool so I doubt it was a pressure issue ... more likely she was running around the pool deck and fell or dove in and hit the bottom ...

[shinek]

Sad for the little girl and probably terrifying for her and her family, whatever the actual cause.

I agree, there's no way the mask just imploded in the pool, she probably tripped, hit it on the bottom, side , ladder or something. Having said that, I'm sure the lawyer is working on a percentage of the settlement basis so he asks for nearly $800k with the full expectation that the company will pay something rather than have to pay their own lawyers to fight it. A lot cheaper to settle than to go through the legal process, even if they would ultimately win.

My guess, they'll settle for medical costs + $20k or $30k and the lawyer will get 10 or 15 grand for writing a couple of letters. I believe the technical term is "Ambulance Chaser".