Friday, June 25, 1999
Boy, dad sue mom in fireworks accident
BY SUSAN VELA
The Cincinnati Enquirer
COVINGTON — An 11-year-old boy and his father are suing the boy's mother for more than $1 million after the child was injured in a fireworks accident.
A federal lawsuit filed Wednesday said Benjamin Bothen's mother, “either directly or through negligent supervision,” permitted him to play with high-powered fireworks, one of which blew up in his mouth.
The firework was of the “artillery shell” variety, the suit said, involving a round ball being dropped into a foot-long tube before blasting through the air.
But the firework “did propel into (his) mouth, where it further exploded,” the court documents said. “The explosion injured, among other things, his face, mouth, oral pharynx, esophagus and eye, and did further require the insertion of a tracheostomy and a gastrostomy tube for feeding.
“Benjamin Bothen incurred a permanent impairment of his ability to earn wages (and) has been caused to suffer great mental, emotional and physical pain, strain and anguish, resulting in the loss of the enjoyment of his life,” the suit states.
Benjamin lives in Virginia with his father, Jeffrey Bothen. Both have brought the suit against Benjamin's mother, Jamie S. Bothen, and James Sockovitz, who live together in Florence.
In the lawsuit, Benjamin and his father are demanding a jury trial, at least $1 million in damages and, if needed, permission to bring a claim against the defendants' home insurance providers.
Court documents show Benjamin's parents divorced in 1995. Benjamin was visiting his mother in 1998 when the injury happened.
Ms. Bothen's house, court documents state, was stocked with several hundred dollars' worth of fireworks for the Fourth of July.
On July 2, at around 10 p.m., the fireworks explosion critically injured Benjamin, then 10, and he was taken to St. Luke Hospital West and later to Shriners Burns Institute.
“This is the worst one I've seen,” Al Millard, Union Emergency Medical Services chief, said at the time.
The parties involved could not be reached for comment.
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