Divers Alert Network moves to clarify the scope of its federal filing — but the questions it raises are not so easily contained.
Divers Alert Network issued a formal public statement on June 26, 2026, seeking to clarify the nature of a federal legal action filed by its insurance arm in connection with the wrongful-death lawsuit arising from the death of twelve-year-old Dylan Harrison during a scuba training course in Texas last year.
The statement, released through DAN Vice President of Marketing and Communications Brian Harper, comes amid widespread discussion throughout the diving community following the filing of the case — formally styled as DAN Risk Retention Group, Inc. v. PADI Americas, Inc. et al — in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas on June 16, 2026.
What DAN Filed — and What It Did Not
The filing is a declaratory judgment action. DAN Risk Retention Group is not seeking financial damages, nor is it alleging wrongdoing by any party. Instead, it is asking a federal court to determine whether its insurance policies require it to defend or indemnify the named defendants in the event of an adverse outcome in the underlying wrongful-death lawsuit.
DAN’s statement was explicit on this point. The organisation stated that the declaratory judgment action “should not be interpreted as a statement by DAN regarding the fault of any organisation or individual,” and that it equally “should not be interpreted as a statement by DAN regarding the quality, adequacy, validity, or effectiveness of any training organisation’s programs, educational materials, standards, certification processes, or instructional systems.”
The defendants named in the DAN filing include PADI Americas, NAUI, the Scuba Ranch, dive operator ScubaToys and its owner Joe Johnson, NAUI course director Gregory Knauer, lead instructor William Armstrong, and divemaster Jonathan Roussel.
The Case Behind the Case
Dylan Harrison, twelve years old, died during an entry-level scuba training course at the Scuba Ranch training lake in Terrell, Texas, on August 16, 2025. She went missing underwater during a descent to a training platform and was later found dead. DIVE Magazine
On January 30, 2026, her parents Heather and Mitchell Harrison filed a wrongful-death lawsuit alleging that their daughter’s death was preventable and that systemic safety failures within the recreational scuba industry were partly to blame.
The lawsuit raises a series of serious allegations. According to the complaint, Dylan was cleared for open-water diving despite completing only three hours of pool training instead of the NAUI-required ten hours. She was allegedly never given or trained on crucial equipment including a dive computer, depth gauge, or timing device. Despite paying for a private class, Dylan was placed into a group of seven divers, and her assigned dive buddy was another twelve-year-old student. The lead instructor was allegedly severely sleep-deprived from back-to-back work shifts prior to teaching the course.
William Armstrong, the former scuba instructor and ex-assistant chief deputy with Collin County Sheriff’s Office, has since been arrested and charged in connection with Dylan’s death, booked into Kaufman County jail on a felony charge of injury to a child.
Why the DAN Filing Matters Beyond the Courtroom
DAN Risk Retention Group argues in its declaratory filing that allegations made in the Harrison family’s lawsuit about scuba instruction, supervision, training standards, and instructor certification are excluded under the relevant insurance policies — meaning it should not have to fund the defendants’ legal defence or pay any damages if they are ultimately found liable.
DAN RRG also argues that some organisations are covered only as additional insureds, a limited form of coverage that does not apply to the allegations made against them in the Harrison family’s lawsuit.
The implications of this argument extend well beyond the Harrison case. Depending on how the federal court interprets DAN’s professional liability policies, its decision could influence instructor professional liability insurance, dive shop insurance, agency-affiliated instructors, and the future underwriting of scuba training activities involving minors.
The industry has faced major lawsuits before, but relatively few cases have combined allegations involving instructors, dive businesses, certification agencies, and insurance providers in a single legal landscape. The Scuba News
What DAN’s Statement Signals
The statement’s careful language is itself notable. DAN went to considerable lengths to draw a distinction between the insurance coverage question it is placing before the court and any broader judgment about training standards or agency conduct. That distinction is legally valid. Editorially, it is harder to maintain.
When the diving industry’s most respected safety organisation determines that allegations surrounding the death of a child student diver are significant enough to require federal judicial guidance on coverage obligations, the questions that follow are not purely legal ones.
DAN’s statement affirmed that the organisation “remains committed to working with training organisations, dive professionals, dive businesses, and industry partners to advance diver safety, responsible risk management, and informed decision-making throughout the diving community.” That commitment is not in question. What the filing makes unavoidable is a broader industry conversation about standards, supervision, oversight, and accountability — a conversation that, as the statement itself acknowledges, must ultimately be addressed through the courts.
The Harrison case is ongoing. No findings of liability have been made. All parties retain the presumption of fairness in the judicial process.
Diventures Magazine will continue to follow this case as it develops.
This article is based on publicly available court filings, published reports, and DAN’s official statement dated June 26, 2026. It does not represent legal advice or editorial judgment on the merits of any claim.
Mohsen Nabil is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Diventures Magazine. A mechanical engineer and scuba diving instructor based in the Red Sea, he writes about diving safety, marine conservation, underwater exploration, and developments in the global dive industry. Through Diventures Magazine, he works to connect divers, scientists, and ocean advocates while promoting responsible diving and protection of the oceans.
