Florida couple filed suit in February against missing OceanGate CEO, claiming they didn’t get refund

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — The CEO of OceanGate Expeditions, who is believed to be on the company’s missing submersible Titan, was sued earlier this year by a Florida couple who claimed they did not get a requested refund from the company after expeditions were repeatedly canceled.

In the lawsuit filed in February, Marc and Sharon Hagle of Orange County accused Richard Stockton Rush, who goes by Stockton Rush, of “fraudulent inducement” and “violation of Florida’s Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act.”

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According to the lawsuit, the Hagles first signed a contract and paid deposits to OceanGate in November 2016 to take part in a future expedition on Titan, which was originally called Cyclops 2.

Around mid-2017, the Hagles believed “(based upon the information and lack of information received to date) that Cyclops 2 was not going to be ready for its initial dive as previously communicated,” the suit said.

Rush visited the Hagles at their home on Sept. 27, 2017 “in an effort to keep Plaintiffs invested in the Expedition,” according to the suit.

Who is on the missing submersible that was headed to the wreck of the Titanic?

The Hagles told him they were inclined to ask for their deposit back and not take part in the expedition. The lawsuit alleges that “Rush knew that if Plaintiffs requested a refund of their Deposit and withdrew from the Expedition others may follow.”

During their meeting, Rush “explained the details of the anticipated Excursion, including the number of people on each trip, the estimated time to reach the Titanic, and what could be expected during the adventure.”

The couple claim that Rush made “false representations” during that meeting and as a result, the Hagles, “did not withdraw from participating in the Expedition at that time, signed the Second Contracts, and each paid the full sum of $105,129.00 for the Expedition.”

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The suit said expeditions scheduled for 2018, 2019 and 2020 ended up being canceled.

The Daily Beast reached Marc Hagle by phone and declined to remark on the suit, or whether the past few days’ events have changed his view of his experience with OceanGate.

“My thoughts go out to the owners of Oceangate, the people that are on the submersible, both the crew and the guests. And we’re hoping for a miracle and that everybody comes home safely,” he said to The Daily Beast. “I think the pleadings speak for themselves.”

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Orange County court records show there has not been any activity on the lawsuit since it was first filed. READ THE FULL SUIT BELOW

Marc Hagle is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Tricor, a Winter Park-based commercial property sales and leasing company. Sharon Hagle founded the nonprofit SpaceKids Global in 2015 “with the mission to inspire STEAM+ Environment Education, with the goal of bringing the possibility of space to children.”

In 2022, the Hagles were the first married couple to take part in a commercial space flight when they flew on Blue Origin’s 20th space flight.

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