A $3.5 million lawsuit has been filed against the Cherokee Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America in connection with a 30-foot fall by a Scout at Skymont Reservation.
Gary Douglas Mahan and Kathy Marie Mahan filed the suit in behalf of their son, Tyler Shane Mahan.
The suit says on Aug. 7, 2010, 15-year-old Tyler was a member of Troop 69 and was taking part in a weekend scouting event at Altamont in Grundy County.
He and his fellow Scouts were to engage in a "high adventure weekend," it was stated.
On the afternoon of Aug. 7, 2010, Tyler and two other Scouts were participating in a vertical climb activity. While competing against one another, they would "strap on appropriate gear and climb a rope that is affixed to an adjoining cable approximately 30 feet in the air which runs over and through a cable and pulley system."
The suit says Tyler had climbed to the top of the rope near the junction of the pulley and the cable when a staff member assisting with the competition "began to run out of rope."
The complaint says, "The rope was not secured in any fashion, therefore, the staff member belayer was unable to safely negotiate Tyler from the top of the rope and instead Tyler fell thereby sustaining injury."
The Mahans said they continue to incur medical expenses.
The suit was filed in Hamilton County Circuit Court by attorney Ronald Zuker of Knoxville and attorney John Mahan of Ellijay, Ga.