Saddleback College Is Targeted in $6.25-Million Damage Claim : Jurisprudence: Teen runner hurt after being hit with a golf ball on the school’s track seeks an award for lost eye, future endorsement income.

Attorneys for Lake Forest track prodigy Ashley Bethel have filed a $6.25-million claim against Saddleback College for damages relating to a Feb. 23 accident in which the 14-year-old lost her right eye.

Bethel, a two-time national youth pentathlon champion and aspiring Olympian, was running on the Saddleback track when she was struck on the eye by a golf ball hit from the adjacent driving range.

Bethel, an eighth-grader at Los Alisos Intermediate School, had the eye removed, and she is in the process of being fitted for a glass prosthesis.

Jim Crandall, a partner in the Irvine firm of Hill, Genson, Even, Crandall & Wade, alleges the school “recklessly and/or negligently designed, built, managed and maintained a golf range adjacent to the athletic field, and knew or should have known that golf balls from the range fell onto the athletic field, posing risk of serious injury to athletes.”

Also listed as claimants are Skip Bethel, Ashley’s father, Jason Bethel, Ashley’s brother, and Dana and Morgan Bethel, Ashley’s sisters. Crandall said the family members, who witnessed the accident, should be compensated for shock and emotional stress.

Crandall and attorney Linda Cummings filed the claim with the State Board of Control in Sacramento. The board has 60 days to act on the claim, after which Crandall said he will file a lawsuit in Orange County Superior Court.

“The physical loss of an eye is worth a couple million dollars alone,” Crandall said. “Secondly, the biggest part of the case is the loss of future endorsement income if she doesn’t become the Olympic-caliber athlete she was expected to become.”

Bill Kelly, vice chancellor of student services at Saddleback, said he expected the legal action but couldn’t discuss specifics of the case. Following the accident, the school shut down the right third of the range, from where the ball that hit Bethel was likely struck, until 6 p.m. and closed the track after 6 p.m.

“The whole thing is really a tragedy, but our attorneys will handle it from here,” Kelly said.

Ric Ottaiano of the Santa Ana-based law firm of Lynberg & Watkins, which is representing the Saddleback College District, said he hasn’t completed his investigation into the facts and circumstances around the accident.

“It would be premature for me to stake out a position at this point,” Ottaiano said. “Until we pin down the facts, it’s difficult to determine who’s responsible.”

Bethel, whose top long jump mark of 19 feet 7 1/4 inches as a 13-year-old last summer would have placed her second in the 1993 California State high school girls’ meet, returned to competition in April and has participated in four meets in the last five weeks.

But Skip Bethel, who is also Ashley’s coach, said Ashley’s times and marks have been well off her usual results, and she has had trouble adapting to her loss of depth perception. Bethel has moved his track club, the Silver Wings, from Saddleback College to Trabuco Hills High School.

“One of the things I’m proud of is she’s strong enough that she’s really determined to do this,” Skip Bethel said. “She has the willpower to keep going as hard as we’ve been pushing her.”

Abby Bethel, Ashley’s mother, said the family has been more focused on Ashley’s recovery.

“It’s been rough,” she said. “We’ve paid for two surgeries, but we want to make sure she’s getting the best possible care without sparing the cost. We’ll let the attorneys handle the rest of it.”