Tower fall yields $4.75M verdict

By FRED HORLBECK, Senior Staff Writer

A York County jury has awarded $4.75 million to a former Fort Mill High School student and his family after lawyers argued that he was paralyzed in a climbing tower accident because of negligence.

Larry Keeter, a Fort Mill High senior at the time, claimed he fell 25 feet to the ground during the school's "Spring Fling" field day in May 2006 after a fellow student lost her grip on the rope supporting him.

Keeter, now 20, suffered a fractured vertebra that left him a paraplegic. He was just weeks away from graduation.

On June 19, the jury awarded Keeter and his parents $3.64 million in actual damages and $1.1 million in punitives on claims of strict liability, general negligence, products liability negligence and loss of service.

The case is Keeter, et al. v. Alpine Towers International, Inc. (2007-CP-46-1889).

The two defendants were Alpine Towers International, a North Carolina company that installed the 50-foot-high wooden tower at the school, and the student who was belaying the rope for Keeter when he fell.

A lawyer for Alpine declined to comment, citing pending post-trial motions.

At trial, the plaintiffs' lawyers contended the defendant-student negligently failed to use proper belaying techniques. They blamed Alpine for not providing a "gri-gri," an auto-lock belay device they said would have prevented the accident.

Also, they said the company failed to give school faculty members adequate instructions and safety training and encouraged belaying by teens as young as 14 years old.

"The primary message is that you should not have kids belaying kids," said Columbia lawyer Richard A. "Dick" Harpootlian. "You need to have the gri-gri, so if the kid that is belaying you loses control, like a seatbelt it grabs and you don't fall.

Expert testimony drove the point home to the jury, he said.

One expert for the plaintiffs brought 25 years of experience in recreational climbing to the stand, testifying that he would never let youths belay other youths, Harpootlian said. If they did, he would insist on a gri-gri.

Also, they put up a recreational safety expert whose testimony targeted defense arguments that a gri-gri would be too biomechanically complex.

"They were two very powerful witnesses," Harpootlian said.

Alpine had asserted 21 defenses in its answer to the plaintiffs' amended complaint. Among them: Both Keeter and the student belaying him were negligent.

Keeter, the company contended, assumed the risk of an accident and didn't follow safety precautions and operating instructions in climbing the tower.

The other student proximately caused the accident by negligently failing to follow operating instructions "and/or employ proper belaying techniques," the company argued.

Alpine requested an allocation of comparative negligence between it and the defendant-student. The verdict sheet allotted 60 percent of the fault to the student and 40 percent to the company.

Whether allocation would occur when the jury awarded punitive damages is an "undecided issue," Harpootlian said. Judge John C. Hayes III ruled against it, he added.

If allocation were to get a green light, it would apply only to $2.5 million in actual damages awarded in the general negligence portion of the case, Harpootlian said.

"We believe the company is liable for the $4.75 million," he said.

'Rip out of your hands'

The company had installed the "Alpine Tower" at the school in 2004, according to the complaint. The school's use of the tower included recreational climbing, other exercises and JROTC classes.

At the 2006 Spring Fling, Keeter, then 17 years old and 160 pounds, decided to try recreational climbing, and a school faculty member trained by Alpine provided him with the "safety equipment, harness system and belaying supported as instructed by Alpine," the complaint said.

An 18-year-old student was belaying the rope, Harpootlian said.

"She was hooked up for a backup belayer but she didn't have one. She didn't get one," Harpootlian said.

And she didn't have a gri-gri, either, he said.

Instead, she had a jaws device requiring her to hold the rope behind her back to create enough friction to control Keeter's descent, he said.

"But if you move the rope in front of you, then there's no friction, and it flows freely, and, of course, you've got a 160-pound boy on the other end. It's going to rip out of your hands, and that's what happened," he said.

The student had lowered Keeter halfway down from the top of the tower when the accident happened, Harpootlian said.

The rope got stuck, and she tried to loosen it. That was when she lost her grip.

"She didn't have a backup belayer, which is the procedure: To have a backup belayer," Harpootlian said. "Our argument, and the jury apparently bought it, was, 'Is it foreseeable that a high school senior is not going to follow procedures?' And the answer is yes."

That she was belaying another student at all was because Alpine "trained the staff to train the students," he said.

Safety procedures called for school faculty members to supervise, and one helped her don the belaying equipment but told her not to put anyone on the tower, the plaintiffs claimed.

"While he was away, she hooked up my client without a backup belayer and without adult supervision," Harpootlian said.

Questions or comments may be directed to the writer at horlbeck@sc.lawyersweekly.com">fred.horlbeck@sc.lawyersweekly.com.

$4,750,500 Verdict

Brief statement of claim: Plaintiff Larry Keeter fell about 20 feet from a climbing tower located on the premises of Fort Mill High School. At the time, he was belayed by a fellow high school student who had been trained in the practices and procedures advertised by the tower manufacturer, Alpine Towers International, Inc.

Alpine Towers instructed users of its climbing tower that children as young as 14 could properly belay one another. The plaintiffs alleged that this circumstance demanded that the highest safety precautions be implemented by Alpine Towers.

Keeter's claim rested upon both products liability and negligence. As to products liability, Keeter alleged that Alpine's failure to adopt an auto-locking belay device (popularly known as a "gri-gri") rendered the climbing tower unreasonably dangerous when utilized by children. Keeter further alleged that the instructor's manual for the Alpine Tower failed to incorporate necessary safety instructions such as direct supervision of all belayers.

As to negligence, Keeter alleged that Alpine Towers was paid to train Fort Mill High School staff and failed to use care in training adult facilitators to respond to crisis situations such as that which led to Larry Keeter's fall.

Principal injuries (in order of severity): Larry Keeter suffered a fractured T12 vertebra, resulting in paraplegia. He was a high school senior just weeks away from graduation and, as a result of his injuries, lost a wrestling scholarship to Limestone College.

Special damages: $433,278 life-care plan; $446,000 loss of earning capacity; $240,000 medical bills

Tried or settled: Tried

County and court where tried or settled: York County

Case name and number: Keeter, et al. v. Alpine Towers International, Inc., case No. 2007-CP-46-1889).

Date concluded: June 19, 2009

Name of judge: Hon. John C. Hayes III

Amount: $4,750,500 ($1.1 million punitive)

Insurance carrier: Western Heritage Insurance Co.

Expert witnesses, areas of expertise and hometown: Gerald George, recreational safety and instruction, of Lafayette, La.; Daniel Hague, recreational climbing policies and procedures, of Lynchburg, Va.; LuRae Ahrendt, life-care planning, of Lawrenceville, Ga.; and Kathy Willard, vocational rehabilitation, of Lawrenceville, Ga.

Attorneys for plaintiff: Richard A. Harpootlian and Graham L. Newman, both of Columbia

Submitted by: Richard A. Harpootlian

Editor's note: The information in Lawyers Weekly's verdict and settlement reports was provided by the counsel for the prevailing party and represents the attorney's characterization of the case. Questions or comments may be directed to Greg Froom at froom@sc.lawyersweekly.com">greg.froom@sc.lawyersweekly.com.