A Chatsworth, Ga., man who became a paraplegic after dropping 10-15 feet from a tower on an obstacle course at Fort Bluff Camp at Dayton, Tn., is suing for over $20 million in damages.
Larry Moss and his wife, Melinda Moss, are suing the National Association of Christian Athletes, World Missions International, Fort Bluff Camp, Bryan College and John Does 1-5 in Federal Court in Chattanooga.
The suit says last July 4 he and other members of his church were at the camp and he was taking part in the obstacle course. He said he was instructed to drop and land in a sitting position. He said when he did his spine snapped.
He did not know that the "mat" consisted "only of an old piece of thin and rotted foam," it was stated.
It says the Crucible obstacle course is designed after a Marine Corps course, but is "staffed by incompetent personnel" and the "particularly the aforementioned mat, was wholly inadequate and completely unsafe."
He was taken to Erlanger Hospital in Chattanooga and then to the Shepherd Center in Atlanta. He now has therapy three times a week at Siskin Hospital.
The suit says his medical bills are already over $211,000 and are projected to be an eventual $5 million.
It says he is confined to a wheelchair, has to manually dig feces out of his rectum to defecate, must use a catheter to urinate, and can never have sexual relations with his wife of 15 years again. He has to use adult diapers and suppositories.
Fort Bluff Camp is owned by Bryan College.
Mr. Moss is a Sunday school teacher at the Eleventh Avenue Baptist Church in Dalton. His wife is the youth choir director at the church.
The suit was filed by attorneys Scott Delius and Mark Murray of Atlanta.