Friday, April 29, 2005
Texas Belly-Flop Winner
(true story of a wading pool diver)
IN TEXAS, EVEN THE BELLY-FLOPS ARE HUGE
by Randy Cassingham
Wesley Holloway, now 20, was a member of the Alpha Tau Omega
fraternity at the University of Texas in Austin. After signing a waiver
of liability, Holloway went to a party at the ATO frat house in May
2003.
As part of the party's entertainment, one of the rooms in the house was
filled with foam. To help members clean up after going through it, frat
pledges made a wading pool in the back yard. Hale bales were set up,
lined with plastic, and filled with about a foot of water as a place to
rinse off.
Holloway, who had been a competitive swimmer in high school as well
as
a lifeguard, was certainly well aware of the dangers of diving into a
shallow pool. So he decided to do a belly-flop instead. To get a good
splash he leapt from atop a nearby picnic table.
"He was successful in doing a belly-flop and keeping his head up,"
says his lawyer, Robert Alden. "He didn't know how far he would travel
once he hit, or the fact if he hit the hay bales it would break his
neck." Sure enough, his head hit a hay bale, his neck was broken, and
Holloway was left a quadriplegic.
Maybe Holloway "didn't know" he necessarily would break his neck, but
as a competitive swimmer and former lifeguard he "should have known"
it,
especially since he could easily see how shallow the water was. And
sure
enough, he did: he admitted it in a deposition, says the frat's lawyer,
Jim Ewbank. Holloway's American Red Cross Lifeguard certification was
awarded recently enough before the incident to still be valid at the
time. But then, maybe Holloway's thinking was clouded: he admits to
having begun drinking "hours" before the party started; his lawyer
admits
his client had drunk "about" four beers. After the incident his blood
alcohol level was measured at between .082 and .085 percent; the legal
limit in Texas -- for an adult -- is .08 percent. Holloway was just 18
at
the time, certainly not the legal drinking age in Texas.
Still, Alden has filed suit demanding $25 million in compensation
from
the fraternity because, the suit reasons, Alpha Tau Omega was negligent
in building an "unlicensed pool" which "lacked proper design, lighting,
warning signs and other things required under city ordinances." Even
though the frat did not supply alcohol at the party, Alden says ATO was
"negligent" for allowing members and guests to drink.
"How do you put a price tag on not being able to get out of bed for
the rest of your life?" Alden asked -- after he hung the $25 million
price tag on Holloway. Still, whose responsibility was it that he was
injured?
Holloway's, answers ATO attorney Ewbank. "His injuries were horrific,
tragic and unnecessary," he said. "But here's a man who drank to excess
and made the stupidest mistake of his life and now wants $25 million
for
it."
SOURCES:
1) "Belly-Flop at Frat Party Spurs Lawsuit", Austin American-Statesman,
15 January 2005
http://StellaAwards.com/cgi-bin/redirect4.pl?60a
2) "Student Sues Fraternity after Belly-Flop", Daily Texan, 20 January
2005
http://StellaAwards.com/cgi-bin/redirect4.pl?60b
posted by txpoollover, April 29, 2005 15:31 | link | comments
