By Shalom Samuels
Can an indoor skydiving zone hold itself out to be a family-friendly location, while internally recognizing that its activities are dangerous? This question is the basisof an amended complaint filed on October 11, 2022, in Cook County, Illinois.
On January 21, 2021, David Schilling, 63, visited iFLY, a local Cook County indoor skydiving facility. According to the amended complaint, Schilling, a novice indoor skydiver, entered the “wind tunnel,” an indoor tunnel intended to simulate free fall skydiving by causing patrons to float or fly in the air, and, as he was “free-falling,” stopped maintaining altitude and began drifting toward the net at the bottom of the tunnel, indications that he was beginning to lose control. As he continued floundering for a period, the instructors on duty failed to intervene or reduce the wind speed. As a result, Schilling lost control and plunged headfirst into the glass wall of the tunnel, resulting in severe injuries, including a catastrophic spinal cord injury that rendered him quadriplegic and requiring constant, round-the-clock care.
On October 11, 2022, Schilling’s attorney, Jack Casciato, of Clifford Law Offices, held a press conference in connection with the Office’s filing of the amended complaint. At the press conference, Casciato explained that the complaint was amended to add three counts of fraudulent misrepresentation, claiming that iFLY, on its website, fraudulently mischaracterizes indoor skydiving at their facility as “safe,” and for “children as young as three,” even though in its “iFLY Release of Liability and Indemnity Agreement,” which is required to be signed by patrons, it states that “the iFLY Activities are INHERENTLY DANGEROUS ACTIVITIES and among the risks participants will be exposed to are the risks of SERIOUS BODILY INJURY AND DEATH.” This claim was bolstered by a written statement by Schilling released contemporaneously at the press conference, calling for the facility to be closed until iFLY makes clear that its activities are not “safe for children” but are instead dangerous.
The amended complaint includes counts against the alleged owners of the iFLY facility, SKYGROUP INVESTMENTS, LLC and IFLY Holdings, LLC, as well as it two employees, for the employees’ alleged negligence and willful and wanton conduct in failing to properly supervise Schilling’s flight and intervene when it became clear that Schilling was unstable and at risk of serious harm. Further, they failed to recognize that Schilling, a novice indoor skydiver, would require a “spotter” beside him, instead of one by the door, and that they should have reduced the tunnel’s wind speed, particularly when he began showing signs of distressed and out of control movements. Further, the complaint alleges that the two employees were not properly certified flight instructors, and were inattentive during Schillings’ flight, talking to other patrons and allowing “their minds to wander.”
Further counts are brought against SKYGROUP and IFLY, as well as against SKYVENTURES, LLC, for design defects, alleging that the wind tunnel should have been equipped with netting or mats to protect patrons from slamming into the ungiving glass walls.
Schilling is represented by Clifford Law Offices, and the Defendants are represented by Swanson, Martin & Bell, LLP. This case was originally filed on April 16, 2021, and is before the Honorable Kathy M. Flanagan of the Cook County Circuit Court. According to the press conference, Defendants’ motion to dismiss based on Schilling’s execution of the “iFLY Release of Liability and Indemnity Agreement” was denied. Trial is set for October 2023.
The amended complaint, statement of David Schillings, and additional resources were provided courtesy of Clifford Law Offices.
