Thursday, Nov. 05, 2009

Parasailing victim's family seeks N.C. suit without limit

ASH, N.C. -- The family of one of two women killed while parasailing Aug. 28 off Ocean Isle Beach has asked the U.S. District Court in Wilmington, N.C., for permission to file a state lawsuit against the parasailing company, and for that suit to be tried before the court considers the company's motion to limit or eliminate its liability in the deaths.

The victim's family made its request in an answer to the company's motion filed Tuesday, said Joel Rhine, who is representing the estate of Cynthia Woodcock, formerly of Kernersville, N.C.

Others who may want to file suit against the company must first file requests similar to Rhine's by the first week of December.

"I don't know what everybody's position is," he said of the possibility of additional requests to hold action, "but obviously I would not be surprised [if there are more]."

Woodcock, 60, and her friend Lorrie Shoup, 54, formerly of Granby, Colo., were killed when they were parasailing together and the pressure from winds preceding a storm front broke the tow rope that connected them to the parasail boat called the Tied High. With the chute inflated from the storm wind, the two women were dragged upside down through waves churned by the wind.

One suffered a broken back in the accident, the other a broken neck, according to the N.C. Medical Examiner's Office.

Wednesday's filing on behalf of David Woodcock, Cynthia Woodcock's widower, says that the parasail boat owner, Ocean Isle Beach Watersports, and its agents Barrett McMullan, president, Tied High Capt. Thomas Provazan and crew Chris Echert failed in their responsibility to ensure the safety of Woodcock.

Jeff Losee, the Wilmington attorney representing the company, did not return a phone call Wednesday seeking comment.

Ocean Isle Watersports and associated parties cited U.S. maritime law in their motion to limit their liability to the $100,000 value of the Tied High.

Rhine has said he won't sue Provazan or Echert because they are the subjects of a worker's compensation case.

The federal court filing Wednesday detailed what David Woodcock likely would seek in a state court trial.

It said Cynthia Woodcock's death was worth at least $10,000 - the maximum allowed by state law. In addition, the filing said the estate would seek damages for attorney, court and expert witness costs, the loss of Cynthia Woodcock's income, services, protection and care. Punitive damages and a trial by jury would also be requested.

Wednesday's filing said Ocean Isle Watersports and its agents failed, among other things, to give safety instructions to passengers aboard the Tied High to listen to or heed hazardous weather forecasts or bulletins broadcast by the National Weather Service that day.

The Tied High was on its third parasailing trip of the day when Woodcock and Shoup were lifted routinely off the rear of the boat by the winds in the chute. Two other passengers on the same trip had been up just before Woodcock and Shoup were launched.

Passengers, in a U.S. Coast Guard hearing on the accident, testified about a rough sea. At least two said they wondered silently if it was safe to parasail that day.

The storm wind caught Woodcock and Shoup when they were 400 feet to 600 feet from the boat, according to Wednesday's filing. Testimony from the hearing revealed that the winch to pull the women back to the boat froze.

At one point during the rescue attempt, the women's parasail lines got caught in the boat's rigging or Provazan grabbed hold of them, and the women were suspended, likely lifeless, before eight passengers.

A gust of wind broke them free again. Their bodies were pulled from the ocean at the Ocean Isle Beach fishing pier.

If the court grants Rhines' request, he said the ruling on limiting liability will not be held until the state suit is decided. Assuming that any damages are awarded, the federal court would then decide if it will allow or deny the company's motion to limit liability.