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Town Faces Two Suits Over Boggs Hill Accident

B Y A NDREW G OROSKO

The town is now facing two separate lawsuits alleging negligence in connection

with a major accident on Boggs Hill Road in September 1995.

In legal papers filed April 29 in Danbury Superior Court, Stacey Murchison, of

Schoolhouse Hill Road, Sandy Hook, sues the town for compensatory damages,

interest, costs, and other relief exceeding $15,000 in connection with the

accident in which her ex-husband, James E. Murchison of Bethel, was struck by

a massive falling tree limb while driving a Geo Tracker westbound past 176

Boggs Hill Road on September 4, 1995, at about 2:45 pm.

Also named as defendants in the lawsuit are Tree Warden John Mead and Public

Works Director Fred Hurley.

The lawsuit states that at the time of the accident, Stacey Murchison was a

passenger in a car being driven to Danbury Hospital to give birth to her first

child. At the time, James Murchison, her then-husband, was driving the Geo

behind the car, it adds.

As James Murchison passed 176 Boggs Hill Road, a large dead limb extending

over the roadway snapped and fell from a sugar maple tree standing on the

north side of the road, according to the suit. The branch fell directly onto

the Geo, crushing the hood and causing it to flip, throwing James Murchison

from it and causing him serious multiple injuries.

Earlier this year, James Murchison filed a separate lawsuit against the town

claiming negligence on the part of the town and seeking damages.

The Stacey Murchison lawsuit claims the fallen limb had been dead, wholly or

partially, for at least eight years before it fell. The suit further claims

that the town hadn't properly cared for its tree from which the limb fell.

The lawsuit alleges that Stacey Murchison heard the sound of the limb crashing

onto the Geo behind her.

The car in which she was traveling turned around and went back to the accident

scene where Stacey Murchison found James Murchison lying in the road,

according to the suit.

"Despite being in active labor, she ran to where he was lying in the road and

attempted to speak with him. She attempted to detect a pulse but was

unsuccessful. It appeared to her that Mr Murchison was not breathing. Blood

was coming from his ears and nose," the suit states.

As a result of the incident, Stacey Murchison suffered severe emotional

distress due to viewing her husband in his injured state, exacerbated by the

fact that she was in labor, according to the legal papers. Her distress caused

her difficulties in childbirth, it adds. Stacey Murchison didn't know during

her delivery whether her husband would survive his injuries, it states.

The accident continues to cause Stacey Murchison emotional trauma, it adds.

The lawsuit alleges the accident was caused by negligence on the part of the

town in terms of tree maintenance.

In response to the lawsuit, Mr Hurley said of the tree falling onto the Geo,

"It was an act of God in the middle of a storm," and the town shouldn't be

held liable for the accident.

The town has a May 27 answer date to the Stacey Murchison lawsuit in Danbury

Superior Court. Stacey Murchison is represented by attorney Francis Pennarola

of Danbury.