Settlement in collapse of Sandbridge deck falls short of medical bills

In the four years since the deck of a Sandbridge home collapsed and sent wedding guests tumbling, those injured have racked up thousands of dollars in medical expenses.
 
David and Kolleen Falls alone amassed bills of $245,351, according to court records. He suffered a fractured vertebra and a ruptured colon, endured four surgeries and spent nearly two months in a hospital. She underwent two operations to repair a shattered wrist and forearm.
 
They are among the 36 plaintiffs waiting to learn their slice of a settlement agreed to by the property owners, Earle and Patricia Mulrane, and their insurance company. The settlement: $375,000.
 
Circuit Judge William R. "Buster" O'Brien heard plaintiffs' presentations about how the collapse affected them during a hearing Wednesday to consider distribution of the settlement. No date has been set for him to make a decision, but he said in court that he felt frustrated by the amount of the settlement.
 
"No matter what they put on here, it wouldn't be enough," the judge said during the court hearing. "These are horrendous injuries that are going to have a tremendous impact on the rest of their lives."
 
In all, medical expenses for the plaintiffs have reached $555,662, according to Robert E. Brown, one of their attorneys. The group has counted another $70,000 in lost earnings as a result of injuries sustained in the collapse, he said.
 
Future medical expenses and future lost wages have not been calculated, he said, because doing so would simply cost the victims more.
 
He described the settlement as "the best that could be achieved," citing a variety of factors, including the possibility that the Mulranes could avoid a larger judgment by filing for bankruptcy.
 
It was early evening on Oct. 8, 2005, when guests gathered on the third-story deck of Sun Haven, the sprawling six-bedroom beachfront home rented for the wedding of Amanda Hall and Kristopher Hoke. Rain clouds had parted, and the sun began to shine as the newlyweds prepared to celebrate their first toast.
 
Crack!
 
The deck buckled and tore from the house. Some of the guests plunged into the pool or onto the patio. David Falls, a friend of the groom, landed on the second-floor deck with his wife and others.
He stood and immediately felt a weakness in his back.
 
Falls, a network engineer, drew on his Navy training and lay back down. He eventually crawled into the house and waited for paramedics, who took him 15 miles north to Sentara Virginia Beach General Hospital.
 
For the next month, he would live off an IV drip. He underwent four surgeries to repair his ruptured colon and address complications.
 
City officials who inspected the collapsed deck found that it had been attached with nails to the exterior of the house, rather than bolted to the frame. The nails had rusted and corroded, and the lack of flashing to shield rain from other parts of the deck also contributed to its deterioration, records show.
 
The Fallses, the newly married Hokes and other guests sued the Mulranes, claiming Sun Haven's owners were negligent and had failed to maintain the structure despite seeing the rusted fasteners.
 
Records show that the bride had asked whether the deck could support the wedding guests. She was told it wasn't a problem.
 
Terms of the settlement call for the Mulranes to pay up to $75,000 by April 1, 2013, and their insurance company to pay $300,000 into the Sandbridge Deck Collapse Settlement Fund this year.
The insurance company's payment is the amount of liability coverage that the Mulranes had purchased on Sun Haven, at 2576 Sandfiddler Road. About $4,500 of the insurance company's settlement already has been spent on mediation efforts, Brown said.
 
The sale of Sun Haven, which fetched $900,000 this summer, did not produce any money for the plaintiffs because the Mulranes owed more than that on the house. Their share of the settlement could come from the sale of another home that they co-own with Earle Mulrane's brother at 2740 Sandfiddler Road.
 
Depending on the sale price, the couple will pay $50,000 to $75,000 to the plaintiffs, said their attorney, Joel Weintraub.
 
He said the Mulranes lost much of their wealth because of the real estate market crash.
 
Forcing the Mulranes into foreclosure likely would mean less money for the plaintiffs, he said.
 
"It was a sad, unfortunate occurrence," Weintraub said of the deck collapse. "The Mulranes are certainly unhappy that anybody got injured while at their property and hope that this can be put in the past, and everyone can go on and make a better life for themselves."
 
David Falls recognizes that he's unlikely to receive much compensation for what he's been through. He will receive a portion of any amount that the judge awards him, with the rest paying his legal fees and reimbursing his health insurance company for a percentage of its coverage.
 
He still cannot jog, lift weights or wrestle with his young son as he once could. He said doctors have told him to expect early onset of arthritis in his back.
 
His wife has trouble gripping jars and other objects with her left hand. Her forearm is scarred from surgery.
 
The bride also remains troubled by the collapse, Falls said. Although not seriously injured, she has expressed feelings of guilt for the injuries her guests suffered, he said.
 
"I keep telling her every time I see her: 'There's nothing you could have done,' " he said.
 
In the absence of a large judgment, Falls said he hopes to see legislation that forces owners of resort rental properties to hold higher liability coverage. Brown plans to lobby the City Council to consider such a move, which he said would have a minimal effect on a homeowner's insurance premiums.
 
Resort rental property owners such as the Mulranes, who rented Sun Haven for wedding parties and large groups of vacationers, should be required to have $1 million in liability to protect their guests in case something goes wrong, he said.
 
"They didn't commit a crime," Brown said of the Mulranes. "They just happened to be very irresponsible in having only $300,000 in liability coverage."
 
Shawn Day, (757) 222-5131, shawn.day@pilotonline.com