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OHIO WOMAN FILES SUIT OVER 14-YEAR-OLD SON'S DEATH AT WIRT CHURCH CAMP - Claims Settlement Was Unfair |
| (05/14/2015) |
| The mother of a 14-year-old boy killed at the Singing Hills church camp in Wirt County two years ago has had second thoughts about the $225,000 settlement she accepted. Vanessa Gochenour of Summit County, Ohio, has filed a suit to get the verbal agreement overturned. News accounts said Andrew Gochenour fell off a "homemade" flatbed trailer June 14, 2013 and was crushed under its wheels while campers and their counselors from Singing Hills church camp were en route to a nearby creek to swim. Gochenour, in her suit, claims the trailer, pulled by a tractor, had no side rails, seats or other safety devices. She said the boy's arm was nearly severed and he died hours later in a Charleston hospital. The suit says the insurance company, Church Mutual, initially offered the mother $5,000. Eventually she said the company upped the offer $225,000, which she agreed to "on the understanding that after payment of her son's medical and funeral expenses, this was all the money that remained." Gochenour said she filed the suit in Harrison County, WV Circuit Court after Ohio Probate Court personnel indicated to her that the settlement was not fair and suggested she seek legal counsel. "After talking with counsel, (she) learned that the health care lien is significantly lower than $75,000, and that special damages for her son's death total between $2,228,880 and $7,726,370," based on an economic valuation done by a West Virginia University professor. Gochenour claims Singing Hills and its insurer induced her to enter into a settlement for an amount far less than she was entitled "based upon inaccurate information" in hopes of saving them money. |
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