Illinois club sued over cart mishap

Golf Course News, Nov 2001 by Devanney, Joe

VERNON HILLS, Ill. - A recent lawsuit winding its way through the Illinois courts demonstrates the need for golf course developers, architects and managers to take a proactive approach to prevent on-course accidents.

Following a mishap in July 2000 where he flipped a golf cart, Donald Nelson is suing White Deere Run Golf Club alleging that faulty design led to the accident that left him with spinal injuries.

Nelson was golfing with three friends at the club when he flipped his golf cart as he approached the tunnel that runs between the 16th and 17th holes.

The path twists downhill and continues into another turn as it nears the tunnel. Nelson stated that, as he approached the tunnel he applied the brake on the cart, but it nonetheless skidded and toppled on the drivers' side with the wheels apparently locked. His companion Gary Joy was unhurt, but Nelson was pinned underneath. Although Nelson was airlifted to a local hospital, he suffered spinal injuries that, he claims, leave him unable to walk without assistance.

ACCIDENT POTENTIAL

Nelson, represented by attorney David C. Wise of the law firm Corboy and Demetrio in Chicago, is suing the Village of Vernon Hills, which owns the golf club, and Dick Nugent Associates, which designed and developed the course.

In the complaint, which was filed in the Lake County court, Wise made several allegations concerning the accident. One problem, he wrote, was the steepness, sharpness and narrowness of the cart path, particularly its requirement that a driver had to take a "sharp, blind turn" to the right before entering the tunnel. It should have been clear, he alleged, that safety warnings were necessary along the path. Wise also said the path was designed and built with a downslope and turning radius that, in his words, was "too steep and too sharp and without proper sight lines to be safe..."

The E-Z-GO cart was also the focus of Wise's complaint. He stated that the cart had speed control settings that permitted Nelson to operate the cart at a pace too fast for the path terrain. Wise also alleged that there were no adequate tests performed by the defendants on the cart path to determine safe speeds. He noted that, prior to July 2000, golf cart skid marks were noticeable on the path just before its sharp turn. These skid marks, in his view, should have put White Deer Run on notice about the potential for an accident.

"The defect in design is the fact that the cart path is a blind, sharp downhill curve without a warning of the condition," said Wise. "This causes cart operators to slam on the brakes in order to negotiate the turn and avoid rolling the cart over.

"The present procedural status of the case," he added, "is that it is filed and the defendants are in the process of being served with summons."

Although the complaint is filled with the necessary legal terminology, the fundamental cause of action against the defendants rests upon the belief by Wise and Nelson that the accident, in many ways, was foreseeable and could have been averted with better planning.

Whatever its outcome, however, the golf industry should take a lesson from this case. Specifically, it is not enough to just design pleasant and attractive surroundings. In developing the necessary proactive protections against lawsuits, everyone has to be as diligent as possible and try to foresee how the design could lead to accidents.