Comments about the Eastern Washington University sued over student death on a rafting trip

More thoughts about the post Lawsuit filed over death of university student during school sponsored rafting trip.


Eastern Washington University is being sued over the death of a student on a whitewater rafting trip on the Clark Fork River in Montana. The freshman student fell from the raft and was trapped by a strainer.

A EPIC Adventure conducted the trip. The suit claims EPIC Adventure failed to understand the dangerous of the trip and had been informed of the strainer the day before the trip.

There are going to be no winners in this litigation except the attorneys.

The family will not get their daughter back and will attempt to confuse or substitute money, if they receive any for their daughter. That may also come as a sense of relief to find someone else was at fault for their daughter’s death, but I doubt it. The family will not win, even if they win. Litigation is a grueling wearing grinding way to achieve “justice.”

The university and all other students will lose, even if they win because the university will probably pull back from offering any more opportunities for the students to stretch and grow. This appears to be a freshman orientation program, which studies have shown, can increase the graduate rates of participants significantly.

So the only people who will win are the defense attorneys, they will be paid an hourly rate probably and possibly the plaintiff’s lawyers who may receive a percentage of any settlement or payment to the family.

No mention has been made of any defenses to the suit or if the student signed a release. What will probably never learn is, was there an indemnification agreement between the university and the outfitter for this type of issue.

Strainers kill people. Do you stop rafting, canoeing, kayaking, living every time a tree falls into a river? I hope not. However, that is what the lawsuit is claiming. Life should be put on hold until the world is perfectly safe and no one can get hurt. Therefore, after you read this, we should all climb back under the bed, turn on our little lights and then heave we are alive…..if you can call that living.

See Family sues university after daughter’s death

For other posts about fatalities and strainers, see Large Jury Award in death of 9 year old Camper and Common Mistakes made by Outfitters and Insurance Companies.

For other posts about suits against colleges and universities see Middlebury College getting sued over climbing wall accident by student, Ohio University settles lawsuit brought by injured student, Settlement reached in suit against Idaho State University group CW Hogs

For Outdoor Recreation Law Review Articles on cases against colleges or universities see Court decides participant cannot assume the risk of a team building exercise, College successfully defends student high altitude fatality, College loses suit by parents of deceased student from snow skiing class, Assumption of Risk and Inherent Risk in Higher Outdoor Education, Case Brief: Release Protects Gonzaga University from Lawsuit Following Student Death and State Law Prohibiting Releases.