Ryan Broderick's Family Sue State of California For Death At Yosemite

By Chris Vogel Thu., May 19 2011 at 11:55 AM

lucidac via flickr

Most everyone's heard of the "slip and fall" scam - where you purposefully take a dive on a store's floor and then sue the shop, hoping to cash in at court.

In April 2010, Ryan Broderick of El Segundo slipped and fell off a cliff near Yosemite National Park. The 20-year-old died.

Now his family is suing the State of California - the store owner, so to speak - but Broderick's death seems anything but your run-of-the mill con-artist scam.

Broderick and several friends were driving up to Yosemite, according to news reports, when they pulled over on Highway 140 near a culvert to check out the scenery.

They all walked out toward the end of the culvert, where a small amount of water was running, to gaze out at the river canyon when Broderick playfully ran past his friends to the very edge.

From the Mariposa Gazette:

He got to the end, where a concrete slab extends above the rocky area below. As Broderick ran toward the end, he was unable to straddle the water as it widened on the slab. He lost his footing and fell. His momentum carried him over the edge.

Sheriff's deputies later found Broderick's body laying on top of rocks, 50 feel below the culvert.

Broderick's family, residents of LA County, is suing the state, claiming the culvert was not not properly maintained.

According to the lawsuit, initially reported by Courthouse News Service, Broderick's family claims that the culvert was "a concealed trap."

The family says that no one could know that it was a trap, "due to the narrow field of vision" along the walkway, and the "slippery surface."

Broderick's family is seeking more than $50,000 in general damages and an unspecified amount for losing their loved one.

Tags:

death, lawsuit, Ryan Broderick, slip and fall, Yosemite Park

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David Casler

Key word is "HE RAN". Stupid is what stupid does.

Europeans have it Right. Why should we put a rail up and destroy the natural landscape, if you're stupid enough to get so close to fall in then you're stupid enough to not be allowed to procreate and make more stupid babies. That's the problem with america stupid people are allowed to have stupid children. Let's hope this guy doesnt have any illegitimate children out there.

Sarah List

Honestly, Ss, I would hope that someone as lacking in empathy as yourself (also known as a sociopath) is not reproducing. You think a twenty year old deserves to die for not being careful enough? Ryan Broderick was an incredibly intelligent and caring young man who would have done amazing things with his life. Tragically, he slipped and fell because, like most people, he wasn't thinking that he might die that day. He didn't know how slippery the culvert would be and that the stream of water would widen and cause him to fall. He was a twenty year old going for a hiking trip with his friends and stopping at a popular lookout that had no barrier and no warning sign. Maybe this is common in the USA but in Canada we have signs warning people that something will be slippery, not to stand on the edge, not to sit on a rail, etc, in order to prevent people from dying. Yes, he could have been more careful, but we have all been careless and simply been LUCKY enough not to die as a result. Every time you jaywalk you risk being hit by a car and having people say you deserved it because you jaywalked.

Whether or not the State of California is at fault and should pay, there is no excuse for your heartless comments. Here is a photo of the young man that you say deserved to die in order to stop him from reproducing: http://www.lawrentian.com/news...

I took that photo of Ryan on the glass floor of the CN Tower in Toronto, Canada.

MtnBabe

It is not uncommon for people to try to blame others for their actions. They don't like to be responsible when things go wrong. Unfortunately, the national parks often back down and pay up.I disagree with Nightreader though about SAR costs. Great sums are spent and risks taken by rescuers when people make stupid mistakes, like running toward cliff edges and down trails.Why should taxpayers absorb the costs? I worked for 30-plus years for the NPS, observed and/or participated in hundreds of SARs. Some are indeed sad accidents, but so many are just plain avoidable, and costs should be reimbursed. Air ops cost many thousands per day!

Nightreader

This is a sad tale indeed, but the legal response is as unseemly as the death was tragic. Hundreds of people have died in or near our national parks because of foolishness acts like this (read the books "Death in Yosemite" and "Death in Yellowstone" to get the picture). A 20-year old man should have enough sense not to playfully run to the edge of a precipice, or try to get a really close up cell phone picture of a black bear, or take a swim in snowmelt-swollen rapids. Having the state of California (i.e. taxpayers) pay the family for the logical consequences of such actions is as offensive as it would be if the state were to charge the family the costs of recovering this fellow's body.

Gbdavis

YOU ARE EXACTLY CORRECT. IT IS THE WILDERNESS.

Jacqueminot55

People are confused between what is real and what is Disneyland. They mistakenly think everything is Disneyland-safe, (forgetting that people even die at Disneyland.)