THOUSAND OAKS : Settlement Reached in Diver’s Death

The family of a Westlake Village man who drowned in a 1986 diving accident has reached an out-of-court settlement with the Thousand Oaks business that provided his scuba lessons.

Far West Sports has agreed to pay $450,000 to the family of Thomas Guerin, 49, who drowned in about 15 feet of water off Anacapa Island the same day that he and two of his children completed a scuba course, said Donald Aldrich, president of the company and one of the instructors.

The settlement, to be paid by the company’s insurer, is not an admission of liability by the company or instructors Aldrich and David Haines, Aldrich said.

Ventura County Superior Court Judge Allan L. Steele approved the settlement Monday.

Another lawsuit filed by the family against Learning Tree University, which has campuses in Thousand Oaks and Chatsworth and offered the diving course, is still pending, Aldrich said.

Guerin, his daughter Kimberly and his son Christopher had been certified as divers and were on their first solo dive when the accident occurred, Aldrich said.

“They were properly trained,” Aldrich said.

“But Guerin panicked or else he had a heart attack. There was some evidence that he died of natural causes.”

Members of the Guerin family could not be reached for comment.

Although Aldrich denied fault in the accident, he said his insurance company agreed to the settlement to avoid the possibility of a jury awarding higher damages.