OU answers lawsuit by burned student
June 30, 2008
State attorneys acting for Ohio University have responded to a lawsuit by a former student athlete, who was badly burned in an accident during a wilderness-survival class exercise.
Christopher Mance sued OU in the Ohio Court of Claims in May over a disfiguring accident that took place in May 2006.
Mance, then an OU senior on the varsity swim team, had gone on an outdoor survival exercise with other members of a university class over Memorial Day weekend.
During the exercise, which took place in the Vinton Furnace Experimental Forest in Vinton County, Mance, who suffers from epilepsy, allegedly fell into a campfire when he was alone in the forest. His face was badly disfigured, and he has undergone multiple reconstructive surgeries.
Mance’s attorney, Robert P. Miller, has argued that his client’s injuries have made him essentially unemployable for the rest of his life.
In the lawsuit filed on behalf of Mance and his parents, Miller contended that OU should have taken more precautions to protect the student, given the fact that he had disclosed on a form before going on the class exercise that he was epileptic.
On June 19, an assistant state attorney general replied to Mance’s lawsuit on OU’s behalf.
In the document, Naomi Hazan Maletz admitted that Mance “filled out a medical form whereby he indicated that he had epilepsy.” She denied, however, “for lack of knowledge,” a number of related allegations in the lawsuit.
These include the claims that Mance had included the information about his medical condition on previous forms he had filled out at OU; that he had suffered an epileptic seizure during a swim meet about three months before his accident; and that he was under a driver’s license suspension because of his condition.
Maletz also denied the allegation that OU “breached its duty to exercise ordinary and reasonable care” to keep Mance safe during the class exercise.
Miller has alleged that OU should have taken special precautions based on his epilepsy, such as not allowing him to be on his own in the forest; not requiring him to stay up all night tending his campfire; and having a physician review his physical status before he went on the trip.
In addition to denying “any allegations of negligence,” the OU response to the lawsuit maintained that “any and all damages suffered by (Mance and his parents) were proximately caused by their own wrongful acts and omissions.”
The response also cited sections of Ohio law that limit the liability of state agencies including public universities.
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