Personal Injury Law

Trampoline Personal Injury Suit Settled with Board of Education

By Michael

A Chicago man who filed a personal injury lawsuit 18 years ago against the city?s board of education after he was severely hurt while jumping off a trampoline received a record-breaking settlement from the city.

Ryan Murray, 30, was offered a $14.7 million settlement last week to dismiss his lawsuit against both the Chicago Board of Education and a private youth center. Murray has been a quadriplegic since age 13 when he was injured doing tumbling stunts at what was then Bryn Mawr Elementary School, near Chicago?s South Shore neighborhood.

During an extracurricular activity held at Murray?s school, Murray attempted to do a flip off of a mini-trampoline onto a mat. While attempting the stunt, he struck his head and broke his neck, according to the Chicago Tribune. Murray has been paralyzed from the neck down ever since.

The trampoline itself was property of Chicago Public Schools and the class was supervised by a staff member with a private group called the Chicago Youth Centers, the Tribune reported. This settlement is considered by attorneys involved to be the largest payment offered by the city?s Board of Education for such a case.

?He’s relieved,? Attorney Susan Schwartz said to the Chicago Sun Times. ?He knows that he will be cared for in the future. If something happens to his mother, he will have the resources to hire someone to take care of him.?

Schwartz, who has represented Murray since the suit was initially filed in 1992, said he needs 24 hour care for his various needs. Before going to her job selling insurance, Murray?s mother takes care of his son in the early morning, waking up at 4 a.m. every day, Schwartz said.

Murray?s attorneys have also been quoted saying that the staff member supervising the tumbling class was not adequately trained for such a responsibility, the Sun Times reported. Lawyers for the board were quoted saying that the board opted to pay the personal injury settlement because other personal injury verdicts in favor of plaintiffs have yielded even higher payouts than what was offered to Murray.

The case had bounced back and forth between various Illinois courts for over a decade and a half, before it came in front of the Illinois Supreme Court in 2006. The court originally ruled that Murray did not have the right to sue the board, but then changed that decision in 2007.

Murray and representatives of the school board did not offer comments on the decision.

Full post as published by The Injury Blog on March 06, 2010 (boomark / email).