Editor’s note: This story first appeared in the Hermiston Herald and is part of a content-sharing partnership between Northeast Oregon Now and the Hermiston Herald.
By Beau Glynn/Hermiston Herald
Roak TenEyck is suing the Umatilla Rural Fire Protection District and others for an injury he suffered in 2020 while playing the role of Santa Claus. He seeks almost $500,000.
Hess Law Office of Walla Walla represents TenEyck, who is the president of the Umatilla City Council. According to state court records, the firm filed the suit Dec. 19 in Umatilla County Circuit Court. In addition to the fire district, the lawsuit names the Umatilla Volunteer Firefighters Association and Carl Arbogast, a firefighter with URFPD, as defendants.
TenEyck’s allegation centers around an event on Christmas Eve 2020, where he was asked to ride on the front of a ladder truck dressed as Santa Claus and hand out candy for the community.
Things went awry when Arbogast, who was driving the truck TenEyck was riding on, drove over a drainage channel. According to court documents, the truck dipped and TenEyck’s left foot was drug under the vehicle’s bumper.
In the suit, TenEyck claims the defendants’ “negligence created an unreasonable risk of foreseeable harm” to himself and other individuals. The lawsuit claims he suffered a fractured leg, sprain and nerve damage and an ingrown nail. Because of his injuries, TenEyck is asking for $71,243.45 in economic damages.
In addition to the five-figure request, TenEyck seeks up to $400,000 in response to “past and future pain, suffering, loss of enjoyment of life and limitation of motion and activities.”
TenEyck alleges he experienced a traumatic event that Christmas Eve and requests a jury trial to seek monetary compensation. The basis of his claim, court documents indicate, is the defendants “should have known by exercising reasonable care,” risks experienced by TenEyck would have been reduced or avoided.
Examples of risks listed in the suit include allowing individuals to ride outside the vehicle and failing to have policies and procedures in place to identify risks of injury to individuals riding outside vehicles.
By ignoring the risks to anyone riding on the front end of the ladder truck, TenEyck claims the fire district, firefighters association and Arbogast are responsible for the injuries he suffered from the Christmas Eve event in 2020.
