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SCRANTON – A New York man has sued a whitewater rafting company for negligent infliction of emotional distress, after witnessing his brother drown during a rafting trip on the Lehigh River two years ago.
Matthew Bonnen of Roslyn Heights, N.Y. filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania on Aug. 26 versus Pocono Whitewater, Ltd., of Jim Thorpe.
“The facts and circumstances occurred on Sept. 1, 2018 at 12:45 p.m., while on a whitewater rafting excursion on the Lehigh River in Jim Thorpe, Carbon County, Pennsylvania. It is believed on the morning of Sept. 1, 2018, a dam release of 1,700 cubic feet of water per second was released from the Francis E. Walter Dam. A dam release increases the power of the rapids downstream,” the suit states.
“At the aforesaid time and place, plaintiff and eight of his relatives/friends were engaged in the recreational activity of whitewater rafting as a paying customer of the defendant. At the time of the incident, the plaintiff and other occupants of the raft in which plaintiff occupied, were inexperienced whitewater rafters. On the whitewater rafting tour in which plaintiff participated on Sept. 1, 2018, there were a total of 17 rafts containing approximately 109 rafters.”
The suit explains the plaintiff was an occupant of an eight-foot raft provided by the defendant, along with eight other occupants of said raft, none of whom were guides. According to the defendant’s promotional materials, each raft is to accommodate four to six people.
Meanwhile, three to five employees of the defendant served as guides for the entire group of 109 whitewater rafters, utilizing individual kayaks and were not in the rafts with the rafters, including plaintiff’s raft.
At the above time and place, the raft the plaintiff was occupying was on a stretch of the Lehigh River between Rockport and Glen Onoko, without a guide in the raft for assistance. Plaintiff’s raft hit a rock, throwing plaintiff’s brother, Christopher Santana, from the raft into highly-turbulent and rocky water.
Santana then became lodged between rocks on the bed of the Lehigh River and was unable to free himself, leading Bonnen to jump into the river and attempt to save his brother’s life, but he was unable to.
“Several minutes after Christopher Santana’s foot became stuck and he was submerged under the water, two guides maneuvered their kayaks to where Santa was submerged. Their only attempt to extricate Santana was to pull on his arms from the position of their kayaks. As a result, plaintiff’s brother Santana drowned,” the suit says.
For a count of negligent infliction of emotional distress, the plaintiff is seeking damages in excess of $75,000, exclusive of interest and costs, in addition to delay damages, costs and interest incurred in this action, plus a trial by jury.
The plaintiff is represented by Andrea M. Cohick and Zachary D. Campbell of Metzger Wickersham, in Harrisburg.
The defendant has not yet secured legal counsel.
U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania case 3:20-cv-01533
From the Pennsylvania Record: Reach Courts Reporter Nicholas Malfitano at nick.malfitano@therecordinc.com