OCEAN CITY — A resort beach stand operator named in a federal civil suit filed by a victim impaled by a flying umbrella has filed a motion to dismiss the case.
In July 2018, Pennsylvania resident Jill Mendygral was impaled in the chest by a rented beach umbrella that had become dislodged from the sand and thrown through the air by a wind gust. In June, Mendygral, through her attorneys, filed a civil suit in U.S. District Court alleging negligence against the two named defendants, the Town of Ocean City and the beach equipment rental company 85 N Sunny, LLC. The suit seeks damages in excess of $75,000 against each of the named defendants.
Late last month, the town, through its attorney, filed a motion to dismiss the case against it, asserting the complaint lacks any cognizable claim against Ocean City. The town’s answer to the suit also evoked the doctrine of governmental immunity.
Earlier this month, 85 N Sunny LLC filed its own formal answer to the complaint amended by the plaintiff a week earlier. In the formal answer, the beach rental operator categorically denies nearly every averment spelled out in the amended complaint.
“The amended complaint fails to state a cause of action upon which relief may be granted,” the answer reads. “There is no basis for awarding damages against the defendant under the facts and circumstances as set out in the amended complaint.”
In its formal answer, 85 N Sunny LLC denies any negligence and asserts the umbrella dislodged from the sand during a wind gust was an unforeseeable act of God.
“The defendant specifically denies that it breached any duty or obligation to the plaintiff and the defendant generally denies that is was negligent and demands strict proof as to all of the plaintiff’s counts and claims,” the answer reads. “The plaintiff’s injuries and damages, if any, were caused by an ‘act of God’ and were unforeseeable as a matter of law.”
Around 3:10 p.m. on July 22, 2018, Ocean City first-responders were dispatched to the beach at 54th Street after a gust of wind dislodged an unattended rental umbrella and sent it tumbling down the beach where it impaled Mendygral. The point of the wood-shaft umbrella hit the victim, who was sitting in a beach chair, and pierced her skin in the upper left chest below the collarbone. Ocean City Beach Patrol Surf Rescue Technicians (SRTs) quickly responded and, with the help of bystanders, secured the blowing umbrella while the first SRT on the scene began rendering aid and keeping the victim calm.
Ocean City Fire Department and EMS personnel arrived quickly and took over first-aid measures. Ocean City Fire Department personnel cut the umbrella’s wooden pole to facilitate taking the victim from the beach to awaiting paramedics. The victim was transported from the beach by Ocean City EMS and was transported to a designated medevac pad at 32nd Street via ambulance.
She was transferred to the Maryland State Police medevac helicopter and taken to now-TidalHealth Peninsula Regional Medical Center in Salisbury, where she underwent emergency surgery. The suit filed last week outlines the timeline of the incident and the injuries and suffering Mendygral allegedly did and continues to endure
The suit asserts the town and 85 N Sunny LLC were negligent because they knew or should have known a dangerous condition existed on the beach and the rented open umbrella was subject to the forces of the wind, and that defendants failed to warn her of the dangerous conditions. The formal answers filed by each defendant assert at least some contributory negligence and assumption of risk for the plaintiff.
