A Florida couple said OceanGate refused to refund $210,000 they paid to visit the Titanic — even though they never made the trip
- Since OceanGate's submersible went missing, its safety and business practices have drawn scrutiny.
- In February, a Florida couple sued the company's CEO, alleging he failed to refund them more than $210,000.
A Florida couple sued the CEO of OceanGate Expeditions earlier this year, alleging the company didn't refund more than $210,000 they paid years ago to reserve spots on a Titanic voyage that never happened.
Federal agencies are currently scrambling to locate OceanGate's submersible, the Titan, after it lost contact with the surface on Sunday morning. The Coast Guard has estimated that the five passengers on board the Titan will likely run out of breathable air late Wednesday. OceanGate's CEO Stockton Rush is one of the five passengers trapped in the missing sub, the company has confirmed.
OceanGate charges passengers hundreds of thousands of dollars to visit the wreck of the Titanic, roughly 13,000 feet below the surface of the North Atlantic.
OceanGate's business and safety practices have drawn scrutiny since it lost contact with the submersible.
In 2018, a former employee warned that the sub's safety could be compromised by poor "quality control and safety" protocols. A group of dozens of underwater adventurers, marine biologists, and submarine pilots echoed the former employee's safety concerns two months later. Still, in a 2019 interview, Rush criticized submersible safety regulations, saying they stifled innovation.
The Florida lawsuit, first reported by The New York Times and the Daytona Beach News-Journal, accused OceanGate's CEO Rush of misleading customers.
Marc and Sharon Hagle, of Winter Park, Florida, paid $105,129 each to participate in an OceanGate voyage to the Titanic wreckage planned for 2017, according to the lawsuit, filed in Orange County Superior Court in Florida.
The dive was postponed and by autumn 2017, the Hagles were growing nervous that it may never take place, the suit said. Rush then flew out to Florida to personally assure them that the dive would go forward, but said if they changed their mind about participating, they could request and receive a refund, according to the suit. Rush said their deposits would be held in an escrow account, the suit said.
The Hagles were reassured. But when the dive, then scheduled for 2018, was postponed yet again, they requested a refund. OceanGate refused, according to the suit. Moreover, they learned their deposits were not held in escrow, the suit said.
The suit has not progressed since it was filed in February. Attorneys for OceanGate are not listed.
A person who picked up Marc Hagle's phone indicated he was unavailable to comment. An attorney for the Hagles did not respond to Insider's emailed request for comment. An inquiry sent to OceanGate through a media contact form on its website did not receive a response.