Woman paralyzed in 2017 skydiving accident reaches ‘confidential settlement’ with Skydive Toledo and partner company

By Emily Fitzgerald / [email protected]

A woman who was paralyzed in a skydiving accident in Toledo in 2017 has reached a settlement with Skydive Toledo, the plaintiff’s attorney announced Tuesday.

The agreement also outlines safety measures that Skydive Toledo must follow to prevent similar accidents in the future.

“We are pleased that Skydive Toledo has agreed to correct these deficiencies. Frankly, the skydiving industry has gotten away with problematic behavior for far too long by blaming those who are sometimes first-time jumpers and not taking responsibility for their actions. Skydive Toledo has made a great effort here and recognizes that these changes can make a difference,” said Thomas Breen, an attorney at Schroeter Goldmark & ​​Bender who represented injured skydiver Jaime Beenen.

Beenen filed a personal injury lawsuit in 2020 against Skydive Toledo and manager Heather Whittaker, as well as Lewis County, the owner of the airport property, and Josephine Air, a company that subleases the South Lewis County Airport property to Skydive Toledo. In the lawsuit, she accused the parties of negligence for their alleged roles in her July 2, 2017, accident.

According to previous Chronicle reporting, Breenen and her fiancé had booked beginner solo skydiving experiences through Skydive Toledo, which were on their “bucket list,” before their wedding in August of this year.

She was concerned about the safety of static line jumping, a type of skydiving in which the jumper jumps alone and the main parachute is deployed via a static line attached to the aircraft.

But after Skydive Toledo staff assured her that her Groupon voucher for the skydive was non-refundable, she signed the company’s nine-page waiver and attended the four-hour pre-jump class on July 2, 2017.

That same day, the couple took off from South Lewis County Airport and jumped.

Beenen dropped until she reached the designated point and then opened her parachute – a procedure to slow a skydiver’s descent – to prepare for landing.

Then she heard her Skydive Toledo instructor yell “No!” over the radio.

She opened her parachute.

As she was rapidly approaching the ground, she deployed her parachute again, but it was already too late. She hit the ground at such a high speed that her spinal cord was crushed and she was paralyzed from the chest down.

“Although neither party admitted fault, Skydive Toledo ultimately agreed to pay Beenen an amount that is strictly confidential,” Schroeter Goldmark & ​​Bender said in a press release.

Skydive Toledo has also agreed to allow only instructors or trainers certified by the United States Parachute Association (USPA), a private governing body for skydivers in the United States, to instruct students via radio in the air, conduct an examination, document the examination, submit the investigation to the USPA, and retain the incident report if a Skydive Toledo jumper is injured and requires transport to a hospital or if their jump is fatal.

“We feel we have accomplished something here that will benefit future skydiving students. We think this case should be presented at national skydiving conferences; other skydiving facilities could benefit from Skydive Toledo’s experience,” Breen said.

The settlement came after Skydive Toledo attempted to file a counterclaim against Beenen in July 2020 for filing her personal injury lawsuit earlier that year.

According to court records, Beenen’s lawsuit was initially filed in Lewis County Superior Court in May 2020 and transferred to Thurston County Superior Court in June 2020.

Thurston County Superior Court dismissed Skydive Toledo’s lawsuit against Beenen in October 2023, according to court documents and a press release from Beenen’s attorney.

“It’s not exactly common to sue a student who suffered a quadriplegia while working for a company. But this lawsuit against Ms. Beenen was particularly egregious because it was based on illegal contract provisions, provisions that simply run counter to Washington State law,” Breen said. “The contract was taken from a skydiving industry playbook. Some ‘skydiving lawyer’ from another state drafts a contract without knowing anything about Washington State law, then makes claims under the contract and threatens the injured jumper with significant legal fees if she exercises her right to account. This is done to intimidate jumpers and dissuade them from making legitimate claims.”

After the lawsuit was dismissed and the contract terms were declared illegal, “Skydive Toledo was surprised to learn that under Washington state law it would have to pay attorneys’ fees to sue an injured customer based on the illegal contract,” Schroeter Goldmark & ​​Bender said in a press release.

As a result of this ruling, Skydive Toledo, Josephine Air and Heather Whittaker were ordered to pay Beenen $95,552.50, according to court documents, indicating that the payment was fully settled on November 22, 2023.

“This is the first of many lessons for skydiving companies,” Breen said. “Make sure your attorney is licensed in your state and familiar with your state’s contract laws before using a liability waiver or following a recommendation to sue injured jumpers.”

After Skydive Toledo’s lawsuit was dismissed, “Beenen continued to pursue her claims against Skydive Toledo until the eve of trial, when the parties reached a settlement,” Schroeter Goldmark & ​​Bender said in a press release.

Beenen’s lawsuit against Lewis County, the airport’s owner, was dismissed by the court and is now on appeal.

“We look forward to the appeal, which will address issues such as Lewis County not only providing Skydive Toledo with the space on its property to hold skydiving training courses, but also the blatant support of a government institution, thereby obscuring public opinion about the serious deficiencies at Skydive Toledo,” Breen said. “This case raises some fascinating legal questions. Let’s move on.”