The developer of a Hurricane subdivision has sued the Putnam County Commission, the latest turn in a fight over a misplaced street sign that allegedly caused an ambulance driver to get lost while responding to a seriously injured 3-year-old boy.
WINFIELD, W.Va. -- The developer of a Hurricane subdivision has sued the Putnam County Commission, the latest turn in a fight over a misplaced street sign that allegedly caused an ambulance driver to get lost while responding to a seriously injured 3-year-old boy.
Dorsel Hodges, owner of Exclusive Home Designs and developer of the Woodridge subdivision, filed the third-party lawsuit against the Putnam County Commission earlier this month. The County Commission oversees the county's emergency services, which Hodges says did not provide correct directions to the home of the boy, Ryan Reger.
Hodges was sued in June 2008 by Chris Reger, the boy's father.
Last week, Putnam County commissioners filed a motion to dismiss them from the lawsuit on the grounds that Hodges waited until four months before the trial date to name the County Commission as a third-party plaintiff.
The lawsuit stems from a March 2007 accident, where a dresser fell on 3-year-old Ryan Reger in his home in the Woodridge subdivision.
The boy was not able to breathe under the weight of the dresser. When his mother found him, he was unconscious and not breathing, according to Chris Reger's lawsuit.
The ambulance driver took a wrong turn because of an improperly placed street sign in the subdivision, according to Reger's lawsuit. It took the ambulance driver three tries and an additional seven minutes to find the house, the lawsuit says.
The lawsuit alleges that the delay increased the severity of injury to Ryan Reger, who it says is now mentally and physically handicapped.
According to the lawsuit, the street sign at the intersection of Southbridge Way and Crestmont Road was placed on the wrong side of the road, contradictory to development plans approved by the Putnam County Planning Commission.
WINFIELD, W.Va. -- The developer of a Hurricane subdivision has sued the Putnam County Commission, the latest turn in a fight over a misplaced street sign that allegedly caused an ambulance driver to get lost while responding to a seriously injured 3-year-old boy.
Dorsel Hodges, owner of Exclusive Home Designs and developer of the Woodridge subdivision, filed the third-party lawsuit against the Putnam County Commission earlier this month. The County Commission oversees the county's emergency services, which Hodges says did not provide correct directions to the home of the boy, Ryan Reger.
Hodges was sued in June 2008 by Chris Reger, the boy's father.
Last week, Putnam County commissioners filed a motion to dismiss them from the lawsuit on the grounds that Hodges waited until four months before the trial date to name the County Commission as a third-party plaintiff.
The lawsuit stems from a March 2007 accident, where a dresser fell on 3-year-old Ryan Reger in his home in the Woodridge subdivision.
The boy was not able to breathe under the weight of the dresser. When his mother found him, he was unconscious and not breathing, according to Chris Reger's lawsuit.
The ambulance driver took a wrong turn because of an improperly placed street sign in the subdivision, according to Reger's lawsuit. It took the ambulance driver three tries and an additional seven minutes to find the house, the lawsuit says.
The lawsuit alleges that the delay increased the severity of injury to Ryan Reger, who it says is now mentally and physically handicapped.
According to the lawsuit, the street sign at the intersection of Southbridge Way and Crestmont Road was placed on the wrong side of the road, contradictory to development plans approved by the Putnam County Planning Commission.
Following an inspection in 2005, the Planning Commission asked that the sign be moved, and Exclusive Home Designs certified that it had been moved, the lawsuit states.
The day after the March 2007 incident, the Planning Commission again inspected the street corner and found that the sign was still on the wrong side of the road, according to the lawsuit.
Jimmy Calhoun, owner of Calhoun Engineering and Surveying, was included in the original lawsuit with Hodges. He was dropped from the lawsuit earlier this month.
Robert Warner, lawyer for the Reger family, said the sign had been moved to the correct location in 2005, but sometime between then and 2007, it was knocked down and put back on the wrong side of the road.
Warner said the county EMS was not included in the lawsuit because 911 tapes from the night of the accident revealed that the ambulance driver and dispatcher were not at fault, and the misplaced sign caused the driver to turn left instead of right onto Southbridge Way.
A phone call to Hodges' lawyer was not returned.
The case is scheduled to go to trial in January 2010, and will be heard by Putnam Circuit Court Judge Phillip Stowers.
The Reger family is asking for punitive damages and compensation for all past and future medical expenses for Ryan Reger, in addition to pain and suffering and attorney fees.
Reach Veronica Nett at veroni...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-5113.
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