03/10/08
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A shark comes up to say hi. |
Here's a hint: no matter how many cutthroat deals you make, how many widows and orphans you evict, or how many honest and decent folk you take advantage of, a shark will not care. It's a shark. Mercy is a foreign concept to sharks, as is leaving food in the water.
Now, Groh was by all accounts a nice fellow, but this showed a serious lack of judgment. Groh and several friends hired a charter shark tour out of Miami, Florida. Scuba Adventures practices a form of shark diving known as "shark feeding." Shark feeding involves tossing lots of bait in the water, then diving in to see the sharks. And Scuba Adventures does this without a shark cage and with some of the most dangerous species of sharks. So, basically, the idea is to incite a feeding frenzy and swim around in it.
When the hammerhead is drawing nigh, it's a little too late to check your life insurance. Inevitably, something will happen, and Groh drew the short end of the stick this time. He died after being bitten by a shark in the leg. Setting aside the jokes ("Shark bites lawyer — attorney dies from friendly biter!"), this was truly an unfortunate event for Groh.
Shark feeding and diving cageless have been banned in Florida waters, and the Bahamas (which Groh and the Scuba Adventures tour were off the coast of) had cautioned the company several times. Apparently they were concerned about potential accidents — I can't imagine why. Still, I would imagine there's an "assumption of the risk" defense here for the company.
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As for Groh, I'm here to tell you this: being a lawyer doesn't insulate you from being stupid around sharks. In fact, if anything, the myth that sharks and lawyers are kindred spirits should serve as a warning: how often do attorneys crawl up the ranks with the broken and battered bodies of their "friends" serving as the rungs? And how often is there conviviality with opposing counsel?
So learn a lesson from Groh: sharks and lawyers really don't mix. Unless, of course, you really want to become one with nature via a shark's digestion, that is...
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