Fraleys drop county lawsuit

More than six months into litigation, the parents of a deceased local high school student dropped their lawsuit against the county and are continuing mediation with a former paramedic.

Malinda and David Fraley filed a voluntary dismissal against Orange County and county emergency medical services July 29.

However, their wrongful death action against former Orange County Emergency Services paramedic James Griffin as an individual is still intact.

The Fraleys filed a complaint against the three parties in late January after their son, Atlas, died in his home after a football scrimmage on Aug. 12, 2008.

Fraley, a Chapel Hill High School student, complained of muscle cramps and a headache at the scrimmage. After returning to an empty house, Fraley called 911 at about 1:45 p.m. to request intravenous fluids to treat what he said was dehydration.

Griffin, who responded to Fraley’s call, advised the 17-year-old to hydrate and work out his muscle cramps after allowing Fraley to sign his own release despite his status as a minor.

When Fraley’s parents arrived home less than five hours later, they found their son dead on the floor, surrounded by bottles of water and Gatorade.

Griffin resigned 15 days later.

Fraley’s autopsy took more than seven months for the state’s chief medical examiner John Butts to complete. In the autopsy’s summary, Butts wrote that “there is no evidence that his death was due to other than natural causes,” but those causes remained undetermined.

Donald Strickland, the Fraleys’ attorney, said the family decided to drop its case against the county due to a sovereign immunity defense strategy.

Sovereign immunity is a law dating back to the 1870s that says a state or county cannot be sued unless it is covered by an insurance policy or there is a specific statute that allows litigation.

“The reason for that is kind of obvious if you think about it,” said Chuck Kitchen, a sovereign immunity specialist and a lawyer at Stark Law Group.

“If (the county) got a large judgement against them, they would be broke. They could not provide services anymore.”

Griffin was originally sued both as an individual and in his capacity as a county paramedic, meaning the Fraleys could have been awarded damages from both Griffin himself and Orange County.

While the county does have an insurance policy, Strickland said the coverage does not extend to cases in which sovereign immunity is a defense. Counties are usually protected from tort actions like negligence.

“The policy covers Griffin, so we went ahead and dismissed the claims that had a sovereign immunity defense,” Strickland said. “He’s the one we contend was negligent anyway.”

Col. Frank Montes de Oca, the county’s emergency services director, said the department still hasn’t been served with any formal notification of dismissal and is waiting to see what it all means.

“Emergency Medical Services is still working with the county legal department to make sure the proper notification has been made,” Montes de Oca said.

Superior Court Judge Carl R. Fox ordered the Fraleys, Griffin and the county to enter mediation in April. Mediators work to help parties come to agreements on how to resolve their conflicts out of the courtroom.

Strickland said another mediation will be scheduled with Griffin, but a trial date is still planned for Nov. 29.

Griffin was allowed to keep his paramedic credentials after a seven-member disciplinary review board decided unanimously to take no action against him in June 2009.

However, Griffin is not allowed to practice in Orange County until he repeats training.

Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.