Plaintiff claims website said raft trip was safe for beginners

Jennifer Caffarella has filed a lawsuit against Laurel Highlands River Tours for injuries she received rafting on the Youghiogheny River. She was injured when her unguided raft flipped and she stood up in the water trapping her foot. She claims she suffered disfiguring injuries and brain damage.

The basis of her claim is the raft company misrepresented its claims that the raft trip was safe for beginners. The raft company claims they require all rafters to watch a safety video and take a 30 minute training course before they are permitted down the river. The company claims that the plaintiff was specifically told not to stand up in the river which she did causing the foot entrapment.

Press releases or interviews with the press by the defendants usually don’t talk about releases. They normally just respond to the questions which are usually based on what the reporter knows, so we don’t know if the outfitter has a release.

At the same time, a training course is a lot of information. Add a thirty minute training course and you would have to think there was some risk involved or you would not get that much information. Foot entrapment is also one of the issues covered in every pre-trip safety talk because people want to stand up in rivers. The higher your head is above the water the safe you feel. It is tough and not understood by the ill informed that keeping your body low in the river is the safest course of action.

At the same time, dimple rock, is a dangerous river section where several people have died. The state of Pennsylvania just completed a study where they determined that Dimple Rock was not going to be removed. The study was prompted because of the safety issues presented by the rock. See Dimple Rock will remain unchanged in lower Youghiogheny River.

For the complete article see: Injured woman sues rafting company

It might be better to create a purely rental operation. If a car rental company can rent someone the most dangerous machine we have invented, the automobile, then a raft rental is easy. However, the course of attempting to make the experience easy and “safer” has lead the outfitters out of the protection afforded by a rental program and into a guide program where the liabilities are much greater. For that same reason, you probably cannot go back.