CHARLESTON - A Kanawha County man has filed a suit against a minor after the boy knocked him to the ground while playing golf, causing his eyeball to burst.
Jimmie Urban filed a suit Feb. 22 in Kanawha Circuit Court against Jeremy Strimel, a minor from Clendenin. The suit also names Kanawha County Parks and Recreation Commission, Sandy Brae Golf Course, and Strimel's father as defendants.
Urban was a volunteer marshal at Sandy Brae's public golf course. On Sept. 22, 2005, Urban was waiting for golfers to finish a round so he could collect the flags from various holes. As he was waiting Strimel, who was 16 at the time, approached him and offered to let Urban try out a new set of golf clubs.
After Urban was finished with his daily duties, he and Strimel went to the ninth tee to hit golf balls. One of his shots went off the green, and Urban asked Strimel for the sand wedge to chip the ball back on the green.
The suit says after Urban asked for the club, he turned around and raised his foot to re-position the ball, causing him to be unbalanced.
"While his balance was compromised, for reasons unknown to (Urban), (Strimel) negligently, recklessly and/or intentionally collided with the plaintiff from behind, causing the plaintiff to fall over head first, landing on the left side of his face and head," the suit says.
Several days later Urban woke up in a pool of blood, and found out his left eyeball had burst. The suit says Urban suffered an explusive choroidal hemorrage of the left eye, resulting in the loss of the eye. He now wears a prosthesis.
The suit names the Kanawha County Parks and Recreation Commission and Sandy Brae as defendants because they have a duty to provide care for all individuals on their property and were negligent of that duty.
The suit also claims the misconduct of Strimel, knocking Urban to the ground, caused Urban to suffer permanent injury.
Urban, through his counsel L. Lee Javins, seeks judgment against the defendants.
The case has been assigned to Judge Charles King.
Kanawha Circuit Court case number 07-C-337
Golf course worker says minor knocked him down, caused him to lose his eye
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