$10.75 Million Settlement for Massachusetts Man Left Quadriplegic After Dive from Key West Resort Dock

In April 2015, Bernard Barlow traveled to Key West with his family to celebrate his 40th birthday. On the afternoon of the incident, Barlow dove into the ocean from the deck of the Sunset Tiki Bar and Grille, an outdoor bar situated on the Galleon Resort's waterfront property. He dove twice without incident. On his third dive, he struck the ocean floor, not realizing the tide had gone out significantly over the course of the afternoon, dropping the water to a depth that made diving dangerous.

Barlow broke his neck on impact and was rendered a quadriplegic. A nurse who happened to be vacationing nearby saw him in the water and helped pull him to safety. He was left with permanent paralysis from the neck down.

The deck had only a thin rope along portions of its edge. There were no barriers, no depth markers, and no 'No Diving' signs visible at the time of the incident. The resort and the tiki bar operator, the Cook Group, initially claimed no responsibility to warn guests against diving or to install protective barriers. During pre-trial proceedings, Grossman Roth Yaffa Cohen's legal team located online evidence contradicting the defendants' initial position on whether warnings had ever been posted.

The case carried real risk for the plaintiff. Barlow had consumed alcohol during the afternoon, giving the defense a comparative fault argument. The case was also filed in Monroe County, where Key West juries have historically been seen as more conservative in personal injury cases, adding pressure to reach a pre-trial resolution.

Shortly before trial, in June 2017, both defendants agreed to settle. The Cook Group's insurer paid $1 million and the Galleon defendants' insurers paid $9.75 million, bringing the total to $10.75 million. The recovery went to Barlow, his wife, and their children.