Lawsuit Settled in Death of Boy on School Outing

The parents of an 11-year-old Yorba Linda boy who died during a school science trip in May have agreed to a lawsuit settlement with the camp that organized the outing, the family’s lawyer announced Thursday.

Kevin Kelley, a sixth-grader at Woodsboro Elementary School in Anaheim, was hiking with about 80 youths in the San Bernardino Mountains when he slipped off a rock while crossing a creek. He fell into the stream, was swept by the current over a waterfall and plunged nearly 150 feet to his death.

The boy’s parents, Matthew and Ginette Kelley, filed a lawsuit in September against Arrowhead Ranch Camp, which supervised the trip, alleging negligence. The lawsuit sought general and punitive damages.

In a statement Thursday, the Kelleys’ lawyer, Lawrence Eisenberg of Irvine, said, “The fact that the camp agreed to a substantial settlement acknowledges their liability for failing to properly supervise the students.”

An attorney for the camp did not return calls seeking comment.

The boy’s mother, reached at home Thursday evening, said the terms of the settlement precluded her from discussing the amount. Ginette Kelley said part of the money will go into a memorial fund for a scholarship in Kevin’s name.

“We haven’t set [the scholarship] up yet,” she said. “But some of the money will go into the fund.”

Kelley said her family is still grieving.

“It has changed our lives forever,” she said. “Kevin had a twin sister. As for her and the rest of our family, we are just devastated. We think about him every day and cry every day. We pray that this type of thing will never happen again.”

Eisenberg said in his statement that “substantial changes in [the camp’s] procedures have been made” to avoid tragedies in the future.

Kevin’s death triggered an outpouring of support and sympathy from schoolmates and parents for the Kelley family.

Shortly after the boy’s death, the Placentia-Yorba Linda School District canceled many of its scheduled trips to the camp, which is near the Green Valley Lake area in San Bernardino County.

The camp’s science curriculum has been popular with schools across Central and Southern California.