Lightning strike prompts lawsuit
A Spokane woman who was struck by lightning at a Spokane Valley soccer tournament three years ago is suing sponsors for alleged failure to enforce safety rules.
Monica L. Phillipy’s lawsuit, filed Wednesday in Spokane County Superior Court, names the River City Soccer Club, the Spokane Valley Junior Soccer Association and the Washington State Youth Soccer Association.
Phillipy was watching her son play in the River City Soccer Cup tournament at Plantes Ferry Park on Aug. 6, 2004, when she was struck in the head by lightning. She said a tournament official told her play wouldn’t be halted even though a thunderstorm had moved into the area.
“There were two big (thunder) cracks right over the top of us,” spectator Kelly Reynolds told The Spokesman-Review at the time. “It shook the outhouse.”
Tournament officials not only failed to use ordinary care, but ignored the United States Soccer Federation’s “30-30” rule for keeping players and spectators safe during thunderstorms, Phillipy alleges. The federation is the parent of the organizations named in Phillipy’s lawsuit.
The 30-30 rule says games must be suspended or canceled if there is lightning within 30 miles of the playing field, and play can’t resume until 30 minutes after the storm has passed. If a tournament official counts 30 seconds or less between lightning and thunder, participants and spectators are supposed to be directed to shelter.
Also, the lawsuit says, the Spokane Valley Junior Soccer Association had a rule of its own that required tournament officials to identify a shelter ahead of time and use it when lightning was close.
The policy states it should be followed “without variation, as no game or practice is worth anyone’s life,” according to the lawsuit.
No spokesman for the Spokane Valley Junior Soccer Association could be reached Friday evening, and River City Soccer Club President Jeff Orwick declined to comment because he hadn’t read the lawsuit.
However, Todd McGann, executive director of the Washington State Youth Soccer Association, called the lawsuit “unfortunate.”
“Obviously, we can’t control lightning, and we try to keep our kids in the safest environment possible,” McGann said. “It was a youth fundraiser for kids when this event took place, and unfortunately she’s going to press a lawsuit for an act of God that we can’t control.”
He said association officials are “happy she’s healthy and didn’t get seriously injured.”
Phillipy’s complaint doesn’t specify how much she’s seeking. Nor does it specify the extent of her injuries, but she told a newspaper reporter seven months after the incident that she had developed stammering speech, her eyes were sensitive to light and she sometimes had trouble seeing well enough to drive, she walked with a limp, her skin was extra sensitive to heat and cold, and she didn’t have full feeling in her toes.
Witnesses said Phillipy was standing under an electrical line that may have diverted some of the lightning that struck her. She was released after six hours of hospital treatment.