Bosko
05-25-2007, 08:09 AM
A few years ago, affected by the events of September 11, Robert
Hornbeck interrupted his psychology studies at the University of Michigan
to join the military. In January 2006, after a tour of duty in Iraq with
the 3rd Infantry (Bravo 269), Robert returned safely to Fort Benning in
Georgia.
On Easter weekend, his parents joined him in Savannah to reconnect
with him and celebrate the pending completion of his military service. He
planned to marry in July and return to school. His father, Eric, told him
he was happy he no longer had to worry about him. His son replied, "Dad,
nothing ever happens to me. I'm Superman."
Sadly, that was not true. On April 16, Robert was out drinking and
playing pool with Army buddy Jeremy Stone. When Stone decided they were
in no condition to make it home on their own from the Hilton Savannah
DeSoto Hotel, he called Eric Hornbeck, Robert's dad, to ask for a ride.
Robert apparently didn't think he needed help, though, and wandered off;
he was last seen near the hotel at around three in the morning. Eric
called his son's cell phone, but Robert simply said he was on the stairs,
and as Eric reported, "that was it." Over the next several days, an
extensive police and community search ensued; the family offered rewards,
and the usual false reports streamed in.
On April 28, hotel workers who had been trying to track down the
source of a foul odor discovered Robert's body inside a crawl space
containing air conditioning equipment. The police investigation
determined that Robert had crawled into the space, where the equipment's
moving parts first cut his arm open, then pinned him. He apparently
removed his pants to use them as a tourniquet for his arm, but it was not
enough, and he bled to death. His blood alcohol content was more than
twice the legal limit for driving at the time, though the exact count
wasn't reported.
It's a tragedy, to be sure. To compound the tragedy, in January 2007
the Hornbecks sued the hotel demanding $10 million over their son's
death, though from all appearances the accident was nobody's fault but
his.
The lawsuit alleges that "the defendants had a duty to maintain a safe
area in its hotel, and to place appropriate warning signs and maintain
locks on doors that led to its electric and air conditioning units." Yet
when Robert's body was found, Savannah police spokesman Mike Wilkins
pointed out, the service panel in question "had a big sign warning of
danger from mechanical parts inside." It's difficult to imagine what more
warning anyone could hope for.
The police report also says that to enter this crawl space, Robert had
to enter a mezzanine between the first and second floors, climb a metal
staircase in the hotel's maintenance area, and crouch to enter. In fact
it's such a tight space that the police had to call in Savannah Fire and
Emergency Services because of their training in difficult extrications.
This isn't just another public area of the hotel where you could
innocently wander off and find yourself trapped; Robert couldn't do it
working pretty hard at it.
But even if you could argue that the hotel was "a little bit"
responsible for what happened, the Hornbecks still cannot recover.
Georgia is a "modified comparative negligence" state, which means that a
plaintiff can only recover for his injuries if the defendant is found to
be more than 50 percent responsible. If the plaintiff is more than 50
percent responsible, he cannot recover any damages -- and it is very
difficult to read the facts of this case and imagine any jury finding
that Army Spc. Robert Hornbeck was not largely responsible for his own
death, however tragic.
So why are they suing?
Sometimes, a lawsuit isn't about collecting money; sometimes it's
about using the discovery process to learn the truth of what happened.
Perhaps that was the Hornbecks' motivaion here. But in this case, the
police investigation, the medical examiner's findings, and the limited
footage from security cameras have already provided all the answers we're
ever likely to have. You would have to have been there, watching the
events as they unfolded, to know what really took place, and the late
Robert Hornbeck is the only one who knows for sure.
The inevitable conclusion is one that we've seen many times before --
for far too many people, when their loved one dies, they cannot
comprehend that it might have been their loved one's fault. It "must be"
someone else's fault -- and that someone else must be made to pay.
Hornbeck interrupted his psychology studies at the University of Michigan
to join the military. In January 2006, after a tour of duty in Iraq with
the 3rd Infantry (Bravo 269), Robert returned safely to Fort Benning in
Georgia.
On Easter weekend, his parents joined him in Savannah to reconnect
with him and celebrate the pending completion of his military service. He
planned to marry in July and return to school. His father, Eric, told him
he was happy he no longer had to worry about him. His son replied, "Dad,
nothing ever happens to me. I'm Superman."
Sadly, that was not true. On April 16, Robert was out drinking and
playing pool with Army buddy Jeremy Stone. When Stone decided they were
in no condition to make it home on their own from the Hilton Savannah
DeSoto Hotel, he called Eric Hornbeck, Robert's dad, to ask for a ride.
Robert apparently didn't think he needed help, though, and wandered off;
he was last seen near the hotel at around three in the morning. Eric
called his son's cell phone, but Robert simply said he was on the stairs,
and as Eric reported, "that was it." Over the next several days, an
extensive police and community search ensued; the family offered rewards,
and the usual false reports streamed in.
On April 28, hotel workers who had been trying to track down the
source of a foul odor discovered Robert's body inside a crawl space
containing air conditioning equipment. The police investigation
determined that Robert had crawled into the space, where the equipment's
moving parts first cut his arm open, then pinned him. He apparently
removed his pants to use them as a tourniquet for his arm, but it was not
enough, and he bled to death. His blood alcohol content was more than
twice the legal limit for driving at the time, though the exact count
wasn't reported.
It's a tragedy, to be sure. To compound the tragedy, in January 2007
the Hornbecks sued the hotel demanding $10 million over their son's
death, though from all appearances the accident was nobody's fault but
his.
The lawsuit alleges that "the defendants had a duty to maintain a safe
area in its hotel, and to place appropriate warning signs and maintain
locks on doors that led to its electric and air conditioning units." Yet
when Robert's body was found, Savannah police spokesman Mike Wilkins
pointed out, the service panel in question "had a big sign warning of
danger from mechanical parts inside." It's difficult to imagine what more
warning anyone could hope for.
The police report also says that to enter this crawl space, Robert had
to enter a mezzanine between the first and second floors, climb a metal
staircase in the hotel's maintenance area, and crouch to enter. In fact
it's such a tight space that the police had to call in Savannah Fire and
Emergency Services because of their training in difficult extrications.
This isn't just another public area of the hotel where you could
innocently wander off and find yourself trapped; Robert couldn't do it
working pretty hard at it.
But even if you could argue that the hotel was "a little bit"
responsible for what happened, the Hornbecks still cannot recover.
Georgia is a "modified comparative negligence" state, which means that a
plaintiff can only recover for his injuries if the defendant is found to
be more than 50 percent responsible. If the plaintiff is more than 50
percent responsible, he cannot recover any damages -- and it is very
difficult to read the facts of this case and imagine any jury finding
that Army Spc. Robert Hornbeck was not largely responsible for his own
death, however tragic.
So why are they suing?
Sometimes, a lawsuit isn't about collecting money; sometimes it's
about using the discovery process to learn the truth of what happened.
Perhaps that was the Hornbecks' motivaion here. But in this case, the
police investigation, the medical examiner's findings, and the limited
footage from security cameras have already provided all the answers we're
ever likely to have. You would have to have been there, watching the
events as they unfolded, to know what really took place, and the late
Robert Hornbeck is the only one who knows for sure.
The inevitable conclusion is one that we've seen many times before --
for far too many people, when their loved one dies, they cannot
comprehend that it might have been their loved one's fault. It "must be"
someone else's fault -- and that someone else must be made to pay.