The deceased passengers are believed to have signed liability waivers, since some riders aboard previous OceanGate trips have said that they signed such documents before their expeditions.
In litigation started by OceanGate, an ex-employee filed a counterclaim alleging he was wrongfully terminated for raising safety concerns, including that a viewing porthole was rated to a depth far less than necessary to reach the Titanic wreckage. The lawsuit, which was eventually settled out of court, also claimed that OceanGate did not adequately test the hull. The lawsuit was settled on confidential terms and OceanGate also asserted that the employee was not an engineer.
The letter, which was never approved to be sent to OceanGate, was leaked to Rush, William Kohnen, the chair of the committee of experts behind the letter, told ABC News. OceanGate heeded some of the comments made in the letter, Kohnen said. "When OceanGate was founded the goal was to pursue the highest reasonable level of innovation in the design and operation of manned submersibles," the blog said. "By definition, innovation is outside of an already accepted system."
OceanGate has conducted over 14 expeditions and more than 200 dives across the Pacific, Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico, according to the company's website.
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