Eye injury from bottle rocket

Beth was just 13 years old, and was enjoying summer break following her 6th grade year. Her favorite activities were horse back riding, playing with her dog, and hanging out with friends. She was invited to a 4th of July party hosted by the owners of a gravel pit. At the party, some of the kids were running around the south end of the gravel pit firing bottle rockets. The adults were eating and drinking on the other side of the gravel pit near a bonfire. The teenage son of the hosts carelessly fired a bottle rocket towards Beth, which struck her right eye. Beth was blinded. Her doctors say there is no hope of ever recovering vision in that eye.

The bottle rockets were purchased by the hosts at an Indian reservation. The fireworks were left out for children at the party to take as they please and fire without any adult supervision. We felt that this was a strong case and were optimistic that we could recover compensation for our young client.

We filed a claim with both the hosts’ homeowner insurance company and their business insurance company. The homeowner insurance company offered to pay the limits of the policy, but this was not enough to fairly compensate Beth. The business insurance denied coverage for the loss, claiming that the incident was not covered under the policy. Attorney Bill Coats filed a lawsuit so he could depose the hosts and their children and reviewed the company books. Through this investigation, we determined that the party was a business function and the court would likely rule that the incident was covered by the business insurance policy. We informed the out-of-state business insurance company of our investigation and advised them of Washington’s Insurance Fair Conduct Act, which could subject them to additional penalties if they unreasonably denied coverage. The business insurance company eventually agreed to pay $500,000 to settle the claim. This was in addition to the $100,000 offered by the homeowner’s insurance, for a total settlement of $600,000. This is the highest settlement in Washington State for an injury to a single eye.