$16 million for radio death WHEC-TV News
10/30/2009 10:58 AM http://www.whec.com/article/Pstories/S1223216.shtml A California jury has awarded more than $16 million to the family of a young mother who died after drinking a large amount of water during a radio contest. However, the station's parent company, Entercom Communications Corporation of Boston, was found not to be negligent in Jennifer Strange's death. The jury also determined Strange was not negligent in her own death. The jury, which delivered the split verdict after nine days of deliberation, awarded a total of $16,577,118. Widower Billy Strange sued local radio station 107.9 The End and parent company Entercom Communications Corporation in connection with the station's 2007 "Hold Your Wee for a Wii" contest. His wife died of apparent water intoxication after drinking more than a dozen bottles of water over a three-hour period in an attempt to win a video game system. "I'm very thankful and appreciative that the jurors took their time and that they held the appropriate people accountable," Strange said after hearing the verdict Thursday. Jennifer Strange's family members hugged each other in court after the verdict was read. Billy Strange earlier testified about the devastating impact his wife's death has had on him emotionally. =================== Here is how the event was described in Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KDND Hold Your Wee for a Wii Controversy Death of a contestant in KDND radio contest On January 12, 2007, a listener named Jennifer Strange, 28, died of water intoxication <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_intoxication> hours after taking part in the "Hold Your Wee for a Wii" contest in which KDND promised a Wii <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wii> video game system for the winner. At the time, the Nintendo <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo> console was very popular and sought-after but also near impossible to find in North America <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_America>.^[2] <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KDND#cite_note-1> ^[3] <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KDND#cite_note-2> In the competition, contestants were asked to drink as much water as they could without urinating <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urination>. The contestant able to hold the most water would be named the winner. According to contest participants, 17 to 20 contestants took part in the competition in a room at KDND's studios. The contest broadcast during the station's "Morning Rave" program began around 6:15 a.m. as contestants were each handed 8 oz water bottles to drink at 15 minute intervals. Contestants also said that as the contest progressed, they were given increasingly larger quantities of water to drink. Some later remarked on the physical discomfort they suffered during and following the event. The Sacramento Bee <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacramento_Bee> newspaper has released audio clips from the morning show on their website.^[4] <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KDND#cite_note-3> These clips indicate that the DJs of the show were aware of the death of Matthew Carrington <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt%27s_Law> by water intoxication <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_intoxication>. At one point, a caller who was a co-worker of Nurse Practitioner <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nurse_Practitioner> Judy Linder called the station and informed the DJs that the contest could be dangerous and that someone could die.^[5] <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KDND#cite_note-4> The DJs responded by saying "we're aware of that," and joked that the contestants had signed releases and couldn't file a lawsuit. However, according to a contestant, the waivers addressed only publicity issues and made no mention of health or safety concerns. The DJs also joked about Strange's distended belly, joking that she looked three months pregnant.^[6] <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KDND#cite_note-5> After the contest, Strange spoke to a co-worker by telephone, indicating she was on her way home and in extreme pain, suffering from what appeared to be an intense headache <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Headache>. The co-worker contacted Strange's mother, who went to her home an hour later to find her daughter dead.^[7] <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KDND#cite_note-6> ^[8] <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KDND#cite_note-7> ^[9] <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KDND#cite_note-8> Aftermath On January 15, 2007, the front page of KDND's website was replaced with a message from John Geary, KDND's vice-president and general manager, expressing sympathies to Strange's family and announcing that the Morning Rave program would be taken off the air indefinitely. On January 16, 2007, Geary dismissed 10 station employees (including the 3 morning DJs <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disc_jockeys>, Lukas Cox, Steve Maney and Patricia Sweet), from their positions in connection with the tragedy^[10] <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KDND#cite_note-9> and canceled the Morning Rave. In consequence, all references to the Morning Rave program and associated DJs have been removed from the KDND website.^[11] <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KDND#cite_note-10> The Associated Press <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Associated_Press> reported that the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacramento_County_Sheriff%27s_Department> spokesman said no officers were investigating the death, and that "It was a contest and people are saying there was no coercion." ^[12] <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KDND#cite_note-11> However, Deborah Hoffman of KXTV <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KXTV> television reported that former Federal Prosecutor Bill Portanova commented that, "on the face of it, the radio station has some serious liability exposure", due in part to widespread news coverage of the 2005 Matthew Carrington <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt%27s_Law> death. On January 17, 2007, the Sacramento Bee <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacramento_Bee> reported that "Sacramento Sheriff John McGinness, alarmed by audio recordings obtained by The Bee of the radio show contest that may have led to the death of 28-year-old Jennifer Lea Strange, has directed homicide detectives to look into whether a crime was committed during the water-drinking contest sponsored by the 'Morning Rave' show on The End radio station."^[13] <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KDND#cite_note-12> However, on April 2, 2007 the Sacramento county District Attorney's office officially declined to press criminal charges, citing a "lack of evidence of criminal misconduct." ^[14] <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KDND#cite_note-13> On January 18, 2007, a wrongful death <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wrongful_death> civil lawsuit <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_lawsuit> was announced on behalf of Jennifer Strange's husband and three children against Entercom Sacramento (the corporation that operates KDND) and Entercom Communications (the corporate parent). The Stranges were represented by prominent Sacramento attorney Roger A. Dreyer of the firm of Dreyer, Babich, Buccola & Callaham, LLP.^[15] <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KDND#cite_note-14> The civil lawsuit was expected to go to trial August 31, 2009.^[16] <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KDND#cite_note-15> The family of Jennifer Strange urged the FCC <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FCC> to shut down the station and punish the parent company Entercom <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entercom>. On January 24, 2007, the FCC announced that they will investigate the station to see if it violated the terms of its license.^[17] <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KDND#cite_note-16> On September 14, 2009, jury selection <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jury_selection> in the wrongful death case finally began at the Sacramento County Superior Court <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacramento_County_Superior_Court>'s main courthouse in the city of Sacramento. Over the next month, the jury heard testimony from over 41 witnesses and 192 exhibits were entered into evidence. On October 29, 2009, after a week of deliberations, the jury awarded the survivors of Jennifer Strange the sum of $16,577,118 in monetary damages.^[18] <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KDND#cite_note-17> They unanimously found Entercom Sacramento LLC to be 100% at fault and Entercom Communications Corp. to be 0% at fault. They also found by a 10-2 vote that Jennifer Strange was 0% at fault (that is, there was no contributory negligence <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contributory_negligence>) for her own death. Dreyer was lead counsel for the plaintiffs at trial, while lead counsel for defendants was Donald W. Carlson of Carlson Calladine & Peterson LLP. -- ================================ George Antunes, Political Science Dept University of Houston; Houston, TX 77204 Voice: 713-743-3923 Fax: 713-743-3927 Mail: antunes at uh dot edu *********************************** * POST TO [email protected] * *********************************** Medianews mailing list [email protected] http://lists.etskywarn.net/mailman/listinfo/medianews
