The family of a boy, who was struck by lightning after a soccer practice on a Central Texas field, have reached a settlement with the owner of the facility and the leagues responsible for his team.
Alex Herrman, a 4th grader, was warming up with his teammates for a practice on August 26, 2014. It wasn’t raining when a lightning bolt came out of the sky and struck Herrman and two other players. Herrman was struck in the stomach. CPR was administered immediately by a bystander. All three players were taken to Dell Children’s Medical Center.
Roger and Jadwiga Hermann, parents of Alex, sued in Travis County District Court, naming the Field of Dreams (a facility owned by the Lake Travis Youth Association), the South Texas Soccer Association and the Capital Area Youth Soccer Association as defendants.
The Hermanns claimed the defendants did not meet the industry standard of having lightning detection equipment in place.
“Alex Hermann, sustained severe and permanent damages when all of the defendants failed to comply with the basic safety principles on weather safety when lightning is in the area, specifically when children are participating in sports (soccer) on an open field,” according to the lawsuit. He added that the defendants were negligent for “failing to designate a weather monitor,” and “failing to warn of a dangerous condition.”
“As a result, Alex Hermann was hit by lightning and is now unable to speak, hear, talk or move.”
Hermann’s attorney at the time said “a figure of $10 million is not an outrageous figure when you look at a young man like this who is going to need around the clock care for the next possibly 20 years. You can tell from his hospital bill being $500,000 in two weeks what his medical care is going to be like over his lifetime, and that’s all got to come out the parents’ pocket, whatever doesn’t come out of insurance.”
Over the winter, attorney Adam Loewy started representing the Hermanns. He told the media he was “confident the insurance companies involved in the lawsuit will do the right thing and help this child.”
That confidence was rewarded in “a spirit of remarkable cooperation by all parties,” noted Loewy. “The money will go to Alex’s continued care. … The settlement will leave a legacy in Alex’s life.”
Going Forward
Meanwhile, Glenn Smith, the former vice president of Lake Travis Youth Association, was quoted in 2014 as saying that lightning detectors were uncommon among area youth sports leagues.
“Hardly anybody has lightning detectors, and nobody knows the accuracy of them at this point,” he told the Lake Travis View. “I called a bunch of youth league offices and they don’t have them. It’s a $60,000 investment and we don’t even know much about them.”
Nevertheless, the Bee Cave City Council, which is near Lake Travis, approved the placement of a lightning warning system near the Field of Dreams just days before the settlement.
