Eddie Johnson, Jim Morrison, Russell Gaither, Stanley Ennis, Lisa Johnson and the Board of Trustees were also named as defendants in the suit.
On June 29, 2014, Robert Jones was assisting Johnson and Morrison on the church property, conducting a special event throughout the church parking lot with activities including games, food, singing and a dunk tank, according to a complaint filed June 29 in Mercer Circuit Court.
Jones claims he was cleaning up the parking lot and working around the dunk tank when he slipped and fell resulting in bodily injuries.
The defendants are liable and negligent because they failed to prevent a public nuisance and also failed to eliminate the public nuisance, according to the suit.
Jones claims he stepped upon the embankment to loosed the tarp tied to a tree limb and was walking across the parking lot when he slipped on muddy water with gravels and fell hard.
The plaintiff was taken to Bluefield Medical Center and then later was treated at Princeton Community Hospital with fractures to his pelvis, a left hip injury, right hip empingement, entrapment of the left elbow, empingement of left shoulder, fracture of the left femur, a neck injury at C1, and back injuries of the lumbar spine L1-S1 with a herniated disc at L1 and L2, according to the suit.
Jones claims the defendants were negligent and caused his injuries.
Jones is seeking compensatory damages in the amount of $1 million. He is representing himself.
Mercer Circuit Court case number: 16-C-217