BorgHunter
08-11-2004, 08:10 PM
http://www.dailymail.com/news/News/200408112/
A Kanawha County jury ruled that a 15-year-old girl has nobody but herself to blame for her 50-foot fall through Stonewall Jackson Middle School's auditorium ceiling.
The six-person jury's verdict, delivered Tuesday in Kanawha Circuit Court, left Candace D. Scicere and her mother, Lillian, in tears. They were hoping to get more than $900,000 from the jury for the injuries and trauma Candace sustained during her 2001 fall.
They claimed the school system could have prevented the fall by locking an off-limits trap door that marked the beginning of Candace's winding journey to the storage area above the auditorium. It was there where she fell through an insulated ceiling tile.
Thomas Kleeh, one of the Kanawha County school system's lawyers, said the verdict showed "the jury understood that each and every person has a responsibility to act in accordance with the rules."
The school system refused to accept responsibility for Candace's fall because the tragedy happened after she knowingly broke a series of school regulations, including skipping class, going into the teacher's stairwell where the trap door was located, climbing onto the roof and clambering her way into the auditorium attic.
"This case is absolutely upside-down," school system lawyer Andrew Paternostro told jurors in closing arguments. "Can you imagine running a stop sign full blast, hitting somebody and then suing somebody for doing it? That's what this case was about."
For decades, rulebreakers at Stonewall Jackson have gone to the attic above the auditorium. Kids went there to smoke, while away time as they cut class and do other things.
Candace went there on Nov. 28, 2001. She was a 12-year-old seventh grader who had been convinced to cut her last class of the day by another girl and two boys.
To get there, she snuck into an off-limit's teacher's stairwell, climbed up a ladder attached to a wall, pushed through an unlocked trap door leading to a boiler room, stepped through a window out onto a roof, negotiated a series of ladders and pushed her way through a broken fire door.
She found a room with a table and chairs on one side and insulation covering ceiling tiles on the other.
Candace walked out on a plank over the insulated area, took a wrong step and fell through the ceiling. Her left leg shattered when she landed in an auditorium seat 50 feet below.
At trial, her lawyers said the school board should pay for the damages Candace suffered during the fall, including large medical bills, chronic pain and a deep depression that has kept her from returning to school.
The reason: another parent told now-deceased Vice Principal Lowell Harris that kids were going up to the attic and had his son show Harris how students were getting up there. The parent, Brian Combs, said Harris promised to lock it off.
The school system didn't lock off the path until after Candace's accident.
"This is carelessness, this is neglect of the obvious and strong kind" Tim DiPiero, one of Candace's lawyers, told jurors in closing arguments. "Shame on (the school system) for not taking responsibility."
After the verdict, members of the Kanawha County school board said they were relieved the jury blamed Candace for the fall.
"It was an unreasonable lawsuit," board member Pete Thaw said. "It's like if I broke into your house and fell down and sued you."
A Kanawha County jury ruled that a 15-year-old girl has nobody but herself to blame for her 50-foot fall through Stonewall Jackson Middle School's auditorium ceiling.
The six-person jury's verdict, delivered Tuesday in Kanawha Circuit Court, left Candace D. Scicere and her mother, Lillian, in tears. They were hoping to get more than $900,000 from the jury for the injuries and trauma Candace sustained during her 2001 fall.
They claimed the school system could have prevented the fall by locking an off-limits trap door that marked the beginning of Candace's winding journey to the storage area above the auditorium. It was there where she fell through an insulated ceiling tile.
Thomas Kleeh, one of the Kanawha County school system's lawyers, said the verdict showed "the jury understood that each and every person has a responsibility to act in accordance with the rules."
The school system refused to accept responsibility for Candace's fall because the tragedy happened after she knowingly broke a series of school regulations, including skipping class, going into the teacher's stairwell where the trap door was located, climbing onto the roof and clambering her way into the auditorium attic.
"This case is absolutely upside-down," school system lawyer Andrew Paternostro told jurors in closing arguments. "Can you imagine running a stop sign full blast, hitting somebody and then suing somebody for doing it? That's what this case was about."
For decades, rulebreakers at Stonewall Jackson have gone to the attic above the auditorium. Kids went there to smoke, while away time as they cut class and do other things.
Candace went there on Nov. 28, 2001. She was a 12-year-old seventh grader who had been convinced to cut her last class of the day by another girl and two boys.
To get there, she snuck into an off-limit's teacher's stairwell, climbed up a ladder attached to a wall, pushed through an unlocked trap door leading to a boiler room, stepped through a window out onto a roof, negotiated a series of ladders and pushed her way through a broken fire door.
She found a room with a table and chairs on one side and insulation covering ceiling tiles on the other.
Candace walked out on a plank over the insulated area, took a wrong step and fell through the ceiling. Her left leg shattered when she landed in an auditorium seat 50 feet below.
At trial, her lawyers said the school board should pay for the damages Candace suffered during the fall, including large medical bills, chronic pain and a deep depression that has kept her from returning to school.
The reason: another parent told now-deceased Vice Principal Lowell Harris that kids were going up to the attic and had his son show Harris how students were getting up there. The parent, Brian Combs, said Harris promised to lock it off.
The school system didn't lock off the path until after Candace's accident.
"This is carelessness, this is neglect of the obvious and strong kind" Tim DiPiero, one of Candace's lawyers, told jurors in closing arguments. "Shame on (the school system) for not taking responsibility."
After the verdict, members of the Kanawha County school board said they were relieved the jury blamed Candace for the fall.
"It was an unreasonable lawsuit," board member Pete Thaw said. "It's like if I broke into your house and fell down and sued you."