Lawsuit filed after diver dies during certification celebration from Jacksonville commercial diver school

A Tampa mother has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against troubled Jacksonville diving school CDA Technical Institute and one of its instructors following the September 2021 death of her son at a diving outing to celebrate Isaiah Johnson and his classmates’ certification.

She says the instructor continued a drug- and alcohol-fueled party even after her son’s body was pulled from the water at Ginnie Springs in Gilchrist County.

The lawsuit filed on behalf of Johnson’s mother, Kimberly Cobb, comes only months after two other CDA Technical Institute students died following underwater training incidents, including one at the school’s Trout River Drive facility in Jacksonville.

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While CDA remains open, the Association of Diving Contractors International suspended its authority to certify divers, and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs pulled the school's ability to train veterans and other eligible people under the GI Bill.

Speaking in Jacksonville at a news conference with her attorney, Cobb said the shock of seeing people partying as local police escorted her to her dead son is one reason for the lawsuit.

"They were barbecuing, they still had their tents up," Cobb said. "Someone just died, you just pulled him out of the water hours before, and you are drinking like it was nothing.”

“To them, my son was nothing. But he is somebody."

The lawsuit, filed by Jacksonville attorney Gregorio Francis, also demands a jury trial to determine negligence, vicarious liability and the cause of a wrongful death.

"We want to figure out exactly what happened on that day and also do an evaluation of the policies of CDA and what mechanisms or rules they have to ensure safety of students," Francis said. "... We really don't have a bunch of information aside from that."

School officials had no comment on the lawsuit when reached at their office. The instructor named in the lawsuit, Justin Morin, could not immediately be reached for comment.

The lawsuit's claims

Johnson's family said that after he earned his certification in underwater welding in August 2021, he joined other graduates and Morin at a Sept. 4 celebration at Ginnie Springs in High Springs.

While there, Francis said, some of the students, including Johnson, went diving in the springs. But minutes after entering the water, Johnson drowned, the lawsuit says.

"Isaiah went down with a dive partner who was unable to help him underwater, then surfaced and asked for assistance," Francis said. "They went in and retrieved Isaiah."

After bringing Johnson’s body out of the water, “defendant Morin continued to host the CDA event at Ginnie Springs that contained alcohol and narcotics," including marijuana, LSD and psilocybin mushrooms, according to the lawsuit.

An autopsy, though, showed none of those substances were in Johnson when he died, Francis said.

The lawsuit states Morin "had a duty to properly handle, provide and supervise the use of CDA scuba diving equipment." But it said he breached his duty to do so, and "his actions were the actual and proximate cause of Isaiah Johnson’s death."

Francis added he sees a "lack of oversight, lack of proper policies and procedures" and no assurance that those are followed to ensure the safety of students.

"It is our understanding based on our preliminary investigation that many of the policies and procedures that are required by Ginnie Springs in terms of signing in, checking the equipment and whatnot were not complied with in this case," he said. "... It's our position that there was negligence on the part of CDA and the dive instructor there on that day, who was supposed to be supervising the celebration."

The lawsuit also contends that Morin continues to work for CDA and that the school has not taken any action against him concerning his involvement in the incident. And since Johnson's death, CDA has not "revised nor added any protocols or procedures concerning the handling, use and supervision of its scuba equipment," according to the lawsuit.

Francis said police did investigate the death, but it was "inconclusive," and they plan to look into that as well.

CDA has not been cooperative "at all" in the investigation, Francis said. Any determination of equipment failure being inconclusive also will also be investigated as part of the lawsuit, he said.

Francis said other incidents at the school in recent years, including other deaths of CDA students, motivated the family to file lawsuit.

A 'club that you don't want to be a part of'

Cobb said her son was a "vibrant" young man who had accomplished a lot in his life and had great future in front of him before becoming part of a "club that you don't want to be a part of," referring to other CDA students that have died in recent months.

"My son should be here, he should be here and he's not. Five months after his 21st birthday, we were reading his eulogy. It shouldn't be," Cobb said. "So I just want CDA to be held accountable, I want the instructor to be held accountable, I want everyone that had anything to do with it to be held accountable."

Cobb said the lawsuit won't bring her son back, but it will in some way "bring justice for the other families who are suffering losses on account of CDA."

Other recent CDA drowning deaths

Two other CDA student drownings this year are under investigation by the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office.

At a Feb. 10 final scuba certification at Flamingo Lake RV Park, Victor Leroy Pierce Jr. was found unresponsive with his air tank mouthpiece out of his mouth after an instructor noticed him “lagging behind” underwater, according to a Sheriff's Office report. After CPR attempts, Pierce was taken to UF Health where hospital staff said the "victim was possibly intoxicated," according to the report.

Pierce's sister-in-law posted on Facebook that he remained on life support until his death on Feb. 28. He was 34.

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The second death occurred April 14 at the dive academy on Trout River Drive, where police and firefighters found Fausto Martins "unresponsive" and not breathing at the end of a pier, according to another incident report.

School staff told officers that Martins was doing a dive for training purposes when they heard him say he had “water coming in his helmet," the report said. He was told to vent his mask to get the water out but became unresponsive to commands. Martins, 41, was pronounced dead at UF Health.

It is unknown if the Occupational Safety and Health Administration is investigating the deaths since the divers were students and not employees. But the Association of Diving Contractors International's emergency measure means CDA Technical Institute will be audited to determine possible consequences, the group said. And no mention of GI Bill benefits remain on CDA's website.

Meanwhile, more than 1,200 people have signed a petition drive started by professional divers to put a halt to student diving operations at CDA following the February and April deaths.

dscanlan@jacksonville.com, (904) 359-4549

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Isaiah Johnson dies at Jacksonville diving school certification party