Schools Lose Suit Over Arm Injury: $1.4 Million

An Orange County jury has ordered Capistrano Unified School District to pay $1.4 million to an Aliso Viejo boy who lost the use of his left arm three years ago after he fell from playground monkey bars at Oak Grove Elementary School.

Attorneys for Taylor Steiskal, now 10, successfully argued that the district knew certain pieces of equipment were unsafe for small children because it had documented numerous injuries on school playgrounds.

“They have a long history of accidents on this equipment throughout the district, and we were able to get records from the district for the past five years that showed there have been 211 accidents,” attorney Mark Simpkins said Sunday.

Not all of those accidents were serious, however, and how many occurred on the monkey bars is not clear.

Capistrano officials argued that the playground equipment meets standard safety guidelines and that no other serious accidents have occurred. “The equipment was manufactured and installed by reputable firms,” Supt. James A. Fleming said in a prepared statement. “There have been no other serious accidents on this equipment. This particular injury was so devastating because the child developed a rare complication with serious residuals.”

District officials said they will probably appeal the verdict.

“The board has not sat down and discussed the specifics yet, but there has definitely been discussion of an appeal,” school board President Sheila Benecke said.

At issue is the height of some playground equipment. Simpkins said equipment higher than 6 feet significantly increases the risk of serious injury to small children.

Several years ago, after a rash of injuries at her school, a former principal at Wood Canyon Elementary School banned first- and second-graders from the monkey bars, Simpkins said. The district should have taken heed then that it had a problem, he said.

“Wood Canyon had eight to 10 broken arms of first- and second-graders in a one-year period, and that’s not unusual,” he said.

Fleming said he had no knowledge of any such situation at Wood Canyon.

Simpkins said: “Most of these kids heal up and they’re fine, but unfortunately, with Taylor it was more serious. He can’t use his left arm, he can’t rotate it, grasp or pick up something. . . . He can’t tie his shoes, can’t cut a steak--things that need two hands, he can’t do.”

The child has had seven operations to restore some movement to his left forearm and hand, Simpkins said, and he now faces an eighth one.

The jury’s verdict, issued Thursday at Orange County Superior Court in Santa Ana, covers the boy’s $79,000 in medical bills plus compensation for pain and suffering.