Florida couple sued OceanGate CEO months before submersible went missing

WINTER PARK, Fla. (WFLA) – Months before an OceanGate Expeditions submersible went missing in the North Atlantic after embarking on a visit to see the wreckage of the Titanic, a Central Florida couple filed a lawsuit against the company, alleging fraud, according to documents.

Since 2021, OceanGate has been taking tourists to the area of the Titanic wreck. The company’s 21-foot submersible, Titan, was carrying five people when it went underwater and vanished Sunday.

Winter Park couple Marc and Sharon Hagle had planned to visit the wreckage onboard the OceanGate sub in 2018. They allegedly paid over $200,000 to participate in the expedition. However, their trip was delayed, and the couple never went on the voyage. The couple said OceanGate kept delaying their trip and refused to give them a refund.

The Hagles’ sued OceanGate’s CEO Richard Stockton Rush for alleged fraud, saying his company “knowingly strung them along even though he knew the vessel was not ready to take the trip and wouldn’t give them a refund.” Rush is one of the five people on board the missing sub.

The couple said their trip was canceled and rescheduled for July 2019, but OceanGate canceled the trip again because its “contracted support vessel refused to participate.” Their expedition was rescheduled again for sometime in 2020.

That’s when the Hagles asked for a refund, and Rush began working on a “full refund plan,” according to documents.

Then, on June 19, 2019, the Hagles received yet another cancellation notice. This time, the deep-sea trip was canceled because the Titan was experiencing “equipment failure.”

The trip was rescheduled and canceled a few more times. The couple refused to go on a trip scheduled for July 2021. They said OceanGate had “demanded” they take the voyage. The Hagles allegedly told OceanGate they would not take the trip. The company then told the couple they “would not be getting a refund.”

Now the submersible they were supposed to board has vanished in a remote part of the North Atlantic.

According to the Associated Press, “the submersible that went missing Sunday could be as deep as about 12,500 feet below the surface near the watery tomb of the historic ocean liner. Newly uncovered allegations also suggest there had been significant warnings made about vessel safety during its development.”

With time running out in the frantic rescue mission, it was reported that a Canadian military aircraft detected underwater noises Wednesday morning.

While the Hagles never made the underwater trip, they did visit space via the Blue Origin New Shepard in 2022. They became the first married couple to fly into space on a commercial vehicle.