One of the defendants in a wrongful death lawsuit related to the tragic implosion of the Titan submersible, which was on a mission to explore the Titanic wreck, is attempting to transfer the case from state to federal court.
Janicki Industries, a company named in the lawsuit for its involvement in the design, engineering, and manufacturing of the ill-fated submersible, filed a petition on August 12 to have the case moved to the U.S. District Court. This development was revealed through records accessed on Monday from the King County Superior Court Clerk’s Office in Washington state. The plaintiffs have until mid-September to respond to this request.
The lawsuit was initiated by the family of French explorer Paul-Henri Nargeolet, who was among the five individuals who perished when the Titan submersible imploded in June 2023. The suit, filed earlier this month in a Washington state court, seeks more than $50 million in damages. It claims that the crew of the Titan experienced “terror and mental anguish” before the catastrophic event and accuses OceanGate, the operator of the submersible, of gross negligence, according to AP News.
Janicki Industries has been named as a defendant due to its role in the sub’s construction. The unconventional design of the Titan, along with the fact that its creators bypassed independent safety checks, has been a significant point of concern following the tragedy, which claimed the lives of all on board and drew worldwide attention.
Neither Janicki Industries nor OceanGate has responded to requests for comment on the lawsuit or the petition to move the case to federal court. OceanGate, which suspended its operations after the incident, has remained silent on the legal proceedings. The plaintiffs are also not commenting on the request, according to Matt Shaffer, an attorney representing the Nargeolet family.
“The hope is that the families obtain more specific knowledge as to what happened, who was at fault,” Shaffer stated. “And certainly they are seeking justice.”
Paul-Henri Nargeolet was a seasoned undersea explorer with extensive experience at the Titanic site, having visited it many times before the Titan’s final, ill-fated dive on June 18, 2023. Alongside Nargeolet, the implosion also claimed the lives of OceanGate CEO and co-founder Stockton Rush, British adventurer Hamish Harding, and two members of the prominent Pakistani Dawood family, Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman.
The Titan lost contact with its support vessel about two hours after its final descent. Its wreckage was later discovered on the ocean floor, less than 1,000 feet from the Titanic’s bow in the North Atlantic. The implosion remains under investigation by the Coast Guard, which is expected to hold a public hearing next month focusing on regulatory compliance and the submersible’s mechanical and structural systems.
The Nargeolet lawsuit alleges that the crew would have been fully aware of the vessel’s irreversible failures, descending with the knowledge that disaster was imminent, leading to a profound sense of terror and mental anguish before the submersible ultimately imploded. The lawsuit describes Nargeolet’s death as “tragic, but eminently preventable,” suggesting that the explorer would not have embarked on the expedition if OceanGate had been more transparent about the risks.