Student Suing Dropzone A Few Years Back

[aaron111533 0]

Can anyone tell me what happened with this incident and the lawsuit? I came across a few websites with short news articles but was wondering what actually happened on the jump. I also searched the forums but nothing came up. The reason I ask is, I think I might work with this guy and everyone is saying "Yeah his parachutes didn't open when he went skydiving!" So I'm trying to figure out what the malfunction / issue that happened really was and get the "Real story".

"Paul Bloebaum of Troy, Illinois, wanted to try skydiving. He went to Archway Skydiving Center where he took lessons, initialed 25 paragraphs of a release waiver and signed the waiver acknowledging that he "understood the risks and would not hold the center responsible if anything went wrong." Bloebaum has filed a lawsuit after being injured from his jump to void that release. He alleges his parachute lines became tangled and he was unable to pull an emergency chute in enough time to slow his fall and thus shattered bones in his left shoulder and injured his leg. The skydiving center claims that his injuries result from trying to untangle the parachute lines after he landed. Bloebaum said he knew there was a risk but never gave a second thought to the release and admits he did not read it thoroughly. "

[Unstable 8]

I'm curious about this too - I'll be watching this thread...

=========Shaun ==========

[DougH 270]

*sniff* *sniff* Does any one smell a lawyer?

"The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall"
=P

[hackish 8]

You could probably do a search in that state as any lawsuits would need to be filed and would then become public record. So you should see the statement of claim and any statements of defense (or whatever the American equivalent is called).

-Michael

[freefalle 0]

fuck em and feed em fish heads pay your money take your chances. Unless he can prove gross neglience on the part of the DZ hes on his own. Its kinda like having sex with a chick without wearing a condom and getting pissed when she gets pregnant.


Dude, its been a long day and I think I may be intoxicated you can go back to ignoring me now

[aaron111533 0]

I can promise you I am not lawyer, I have made many of these skyjumps with a parachute many times out of the Boeing 737 jets - I jump in NewFoundland at Skyjump Wabana just talk to anyone there...But don't call this week because their phones are down due to the ice storm...And I know it doesn't come up on google, we're working on that...

Ok just kidding, I made that up. I wish I was a lawyer - Then I could get a better Rig, Car, House, and girlfriend! Not sure how you came to that assumption Doug, sorry if I came across that way.

I'm just interested to find out what this guys malfunction was, and what his reaction was, because apparently he tells everyone at work that "Both my parachutes didn't open". I'm less interested in the lawsuit, but I can't find out the end result of that either so that would be interesting to know. I'm just suprised I didn't find any record of this in the forums...

[DougH 270]

"The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall"
=P

[HeadCone 0]

I did some searching. I found an OverLawyered.com article which mentions the article: "Company Sued Over Skydiver's Fall", AP/Fox News, July 25, 2001. The link to the FOX site comes back with a Page Not Found. However, googling "Company Sued Over Skydiver's Fall" came back with this result:

http://www.makeithappen.com/jumps/news/news195.html

It doesn't have the article, but suggests an e-mail address to get it. Then, to be nosey, I bumped up the number in the URL:

http://www.makeithappen.com/jumps/news/news196.html

This doesn't display an article either but rather a similar message for an obviously related article.

HTH,

Head

--
Turn off the internet! Join Citizens United Negating Technology For Life And People's Safety!

http://www.citizensunitednegatingtechnology.org/

[DeNReN 0]

Skydive Wabana is in Labrador not Newfoundland...damn lawyers






Pull the guy aside and ask him what the story is...dont let him know that you skydive(if you actually do)..then have some fun with it ...and report back to us with the story.

BTW: might get less lawyer type comments if you fill out your profile

[hackish 8]

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Skydive Wabana is in Labrador not Newfoundland...damn lawyers

However as any lawyer familiar with that area would tell you Labrador is part of the province of Newfoundland. The folk who are not from "the rock" itself don't sound quite as funny but I guess they're still Newfies - even if visitors to Labrador don't have to kiss a cod and take a shot of screech...

-Michael

[kelpdiver 2]

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He alleges his parachute lines became tangled and he was unable to pull an emergency chute in enough time to slow his fall and thus shattered bones in his left shoulder and injured his leg. The skydiving center claims that his injuries result from trying to untangle the parachute lines after he landed. Bloebaum said he knew there was a risk but never gave a second thought to the release and admits he did not read it thoroughly. "

Both of these statements are interesting, but suggest an article that was sloppily written.

You don't shatter bones field packing your chute, and if you're suiing, you don't admit to not reading what you signed.

[aaron111533 0]

Very interesting indeed. Are there any Archway people around that can fill us in?

[DeNReN 0]

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Skydive Wabana is in Labrador not Newfoundland...damn lawyers

However as any lawyer familiar with that area would tell you Labrador is part of the province of Newfoundland. The folk who are not from "the rock" itself don't sound quite as funny but I guess they're still Newfies - even if visitors to Labrador don't have to kiss a cod and take a shot of screech...

-Michael

pssst...there is no Skydive Wabana either on the rock or in labrador....it was a joke..me being silly ...I am a Newfie....born and raised ....just try and out drink me

tanks b'ye

[hackish 8]

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pssst...there is no Skydive Wabana either on the rock or in labrador....it was a joke..me being silly ...I am a Newfie....born and raised ....just try and out drink me

tanks b'ye

Dat I didn't know. Whatta you byes swoop into dorreys or somethin? Crazy newfs there must be a hundred or more... (Grew up in NS so I met my share of newfies and holy hell you don't ever want to try out drinking one of those.

-Michael

[bob.dino 0]

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http://www.makeithappen.com/jumps/news/news195.html

The owner of that site is on dz.com as MakeItHappen.

[cpoxon 0]

From http://edwardsville.hearstnp.com/SelectStory/story_id=14697

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On his first parachute jump ever, Paul Bloebaum didn't die. What's more, he looked up and saw a tangled mess where by all rights he should have seen a billowy parachute, and he didn't even panic.

The jump was witnessed by his wife, Robin, and she was calm as well. It was her present to him on his 47th birthday, which they celebrated by packing a picnic lunch and driving from their home in Troy to the Archway Skydiving Center in Vandalia.

"It's funny because when he was ready to go up I said something like, 'Well, God will carry you down,' and He pretty much did," Robin Bloebaum said in an interview at the couple's home.

"I don't know why I didn't panic," Paul Bloebaum said. "Now that I think back on it, it would have been the thing to do."

On the morning of the jump, he was shown a video that was intended to prepare him for what was to come. Afterward, the couple signed a form that they later learned released Archway of all liability, even if they were found to be careless or negligent. The Bloebaums also learned that Archway had no insurance. Last month their attorney, Steve Grimm, filed suit against Archway in Madison County Circuit Court in Edwardsville.

Before Bloebaum ducked into the plane, he donned a helmet, goggles, and parachute. The plane took off and climbed to 3,500 feet before it levelled off. At Bloebaum's side was an Archway instructor, and on the ground, at where she was told he might land, was Robin Bloebaum, with camera in hand.

Paul Blaoebaum was about to make a static line jump, a jump in which the parachute's ripcord is attached to a line clipped to the floor of the plane. The idea, Grimm said, was that the parachute would open just after Bloebaum jumped. Attached to Bloebaum's jumpsuit was a two-way radio for communicating with an instructor on the ground. If he wasn't nervous during the fall, he was nervous then.

"You hang onto the strut not wanting to let go and your feet kind of hang loose," he said. Following his instructor's cue, he rolled from the plane and began a freefall. Exactly what happened next isn't clear, but Bloebaum said that several seconds passed without the main chute opening.

"I didn't look down," he said. "I looked up and the parachute was in a knot, and the chord was wrapped around it. The guy on the ground said to untwist it, so I reached up and started pulling, but I saw that I was actually winding it tighter."

At his instructor's urging, Bloebaum pulled the emergency cord but the chute didn't immediately open either. With Bloebaum beginning to get dizzy, the emergency chute finally opened, and the main chute cut away. Another second or two, he says now, and he would be dead. "If I'd looked down, I know I would have panicked," he said.

When Robin Bloebaum realized what was happening, she couldn't believe it.

"All of a sudden I was looking at him and thinking, 'How can this be? The parachute didn't open.' But then I felt a presence. I felt a peace. I felt he was going to be OK," she said. "I thought he was going to be alive."

As he neared the ground, the wind drove him laterally as well. To cushion the landing, the instructor told him to bend his knees and put them together. As the impending impact neared, Bloebaum glanced at the ground for the first time.

"I was going a lot faster than I thought," he said. "I hit the ground and began rolling. The wind took the parachute and I was being dragged through this cow pasture. I looked up and saw a field of corn and a barbed wire fence and I thought, 'Either you're going to end up in that field or you're going to be impaled on that barbed wire."

A farmer who had been watching from his tractor ran over and grabbed Bloebaum and held onto him. Bloebaum's first thought was to get on the two-way radio and let Robin know he was OK.

At that point, Robin walked to the hangar and kept calm by praying. "It seemed like forever," she said. "Then I heard him say, 'Hey, Robbie, I'm alive.'"

Medics whisked him to a local hospital and from there he was transferred to Anderson Hospital in Maryville, and later to Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis.

Doctors treated an injured left leg, a compressed spine, and a shattered left shoulder. It was a month before Bloebaum could not put weight on the leg without wincing. Doctors operated on his spine, and a few days later he limped out of the hospital with a cane, a brace on his back, and a sling under his shoulder.

Then he began a rigorous therapy program, the first step on the road to a remarkable comeback. Robin took time off from work to care for him. He was off work for six weeks but today he is back behind a desk. "I'm glad I don't hang wallpaper," he quipped. "If it was anything physical, I wouldn't be back."

Not that any of it was easy. Not until a month after the accident did he have enough control of his body to feed himself meals, which, for a while, consisted of chicken fingers.

Members of Troy United Methodist Church helped. A neighbor began mowing their the lawn. And for the first few weeks, a neighbor boy came over and walked their dog.

Today Robin calls her husband a survivor. The Bloebaums have been married for 24 years and have a 12-year-old son. If they win their lawsuit the financial windfall would surely come in handy, but they say their focus now is to warn people who are considering activities such as skydiving to check the company out first, and read the fine print.

"You're so excited," Robin Bloebaum said. "You're getting pictures and they say 'Sign the form.' You don't think about insurance."


Web posted at: Jun 15 2001 12:00PM

Skydiving Fatalities - Cease not to learn 'til thou cease to live

[CSpenceFLY 1]

They could check out the company or read the form they are signing. Jackass!!

[squirrel 0]

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I wish I was a lawyer - Then I could get a better Rig, Car, House, and girlfriend!

this line of thinking is your first mistake.

________________________________
Where is Darwin when you need him?

[aaron111533 0]

Interesting, thanks for the new info.

From what I can gather it appears that he opened into linetwists that he wasn't able to clear for some reason, and the instructor advised him to initiate EP's....And the reserve sounds like it opened properly after that...With a no-flare landing off the DZ perhaps....And not pulling down a toggle to collapse the canopy and subsequently being drug over the ground for apparently quite some ways. Then he decided to sue the DZ.

[Thanatos340 1]

I did searches on Pacer last night for "Paul Bloebaum" and returned nothing. I also tried "Archway Skydiving Center" and it turned up nothing as well.

Not sure if a actual Lawsuit was ever filed. If there was it should have shown up on Pacer. I may not have been searching correctly but I can generally find anything on pacer.

[Floats18 0]

The dude is a SURVIVOR HERO for linetwists and having his ass drug through some cow crap?

Our nation's lifestyle makes me sick sometimes.

I went whitewater rafting 2 weeks ago and I knocked my elbow against a rock and drank some riverwater. Maybe I can get some money for myself. Where's this Grimm guy at?

--- and give them wings so they may fly free forever

DiverDriver in Training

[NickDG 23]

>>On the morning of the jump, he was shown a video that was intended to prepare him for what was to come.
I'm not putting much credence into what this guy says, but I do have a bit more empathy for students than some here. For instance, I'm hoping the video he was shown was in addition to a full blown FJC and not someone's attempt at further blowing Instructors out the door.

I've always taught first jump students to expect line twists to the point of being disappointed if they didn't get them. I was going for a student capable of looking up and instead of being freaked out, the thought process went, "Cool! Line twists! Just like Nick said."

There is an interesting dynamic in skydiving cases like these if they actually make it into a courtroom. And there are really just two kinds of cases. There are the rare ones where it is painfully obvious that negligence has occurred on the part of the DZ and in those cases I don’t mind when an experienced jumper testifies as an expert witness for the plaintiff as the shoddy operators should be hammered.

The other type is more like this one, where the DZ has their ducks correctly lined up, if in fact they did, in the sense they are doing what is reasonable compared with other DZs around the country. In that same vein I think most judges (and hopefully most jurors) will understand that skydiving is a dangerous sport and that some number of injuries will occur. In fact, I would hope, as wuffos, their starting point is, "The guy went skydiving, what the hell did he expect?"

Also, this guy in the story may have not had the original idea to sue. Most students who receive a decent first jump course and then screw up are very naturally apologetic about it. This could be a case similar to what happened to me once. I broke a bone on a jump and in the hospital the X-ray technician casually asked me how I hurt myself and I told him skydiving.

A few days later I received a phone call out of the blue from a lawyer who wanted to know if I was interested in suing. It hit me like a thunderbolt that the X-ray tech was bird dogging for the lawyer so I played along and acted dumb. When I asked how it would work, he painted me a very rosy picture. "We'd sue everyone involved," he said, "the pilot, the airplane manufacturer, the parachute place, and the people who made the faulty parachute." He actually said faulty parachute. The topper was no win, no fee!

I'm not sure too many first, and only one time, jumpers, these days, would be able to resist that pitch. In the older days of the sport a student's relationship with the sport was begun that first day. As I'm sure you've heard before, rather than turned out like customers, they hung out, shared the free beer and stories after sunset and went home thinking they'd made some new friends. And if there is a rise in these nuisance suits some of the fault surely lays right there. I still think as a group we treat students pretty well, but it's a different kind of courtesy. It's more like the perfunctory treatment you get down at the tire store.

When teaching Instructors in an ICC or an AFF cert course I always mentioned their job was to turn students into a skydivers, and at the same time not turn them into plaintiffs . . .

BTW, if any lawyers are reading this I bill out at $10,000 (up front) plus expenses.

NickD BASE 194

[Goody_23 0]

"... impaled on that barbed wire."

Exaggeration like the rest of the story?? Sueing b/c he is a dumbass...

SKYDIVING = HAPPY

[kelpdiver 2]

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"... impaled on that barbed wire."

Exaggeration like the rest of the story?? Sueing b/c he is a dumbass...

One of my instructors said he got a canopy after its owner met a bad fate on a barbed wire fence. (though I didn't ask out how the canopy came out ok in the process)

Guy does seem like a second cousin of Lutz.

[PWScottIV 0]

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"... impaled on that barbed wire."

Exaggeration like the rest of the story?? Sueing b/c he is a dumbass...

One of my instructors said he got a canopy after its owner met a bad fate on a barbed wire fence. (though I didn't ask out how the canopy came out ok in the process)

Guy does seem like a second cousin of Lutz.

LOL, my first thoughts were of Lutz while I read that BS... I can hear that asshat ringing in my ears... "Wahhh, I released the parachute, but nobody told me what to do if my parachute disappeared."... No, nobody told you what to do if you happened to be an moron. Sometimes I wonder if human evolution has become de-evolution.

Gravity Waits for No One.