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WILKES-BARRE — A King’s College student who claims to have fractured her hip during a game of tag in a muddy marsh has sued the college and the Maryland nonprofit where the injury allegedly occurred.
Jennifer Ercolani filed suit in Luzerne County Court Monday claiming she was injured during a game of tag that followed a “mud run” on a wildlife refuge in Bishop’s Head, Maryland on Oct. 21. The document identifies Ercolani as an environmental studies student from 110 Helen St., Plains Township.
Ercolani is 1994 graduate of Meyers High School, according to her Facebook profile.
According to the lawsuit, Ercolani was taking a week-long ecology class at the refuge and was participating in a game of tag with other members of the class when she “unexpectedly stepped into an area of extremely thick mud, causing her right leg to hold fast as she turned her body.”
Ercolani suffered a fractured hip and “shock to her nervous system” as a result, the lawsuit alleges.
Ercolani is seeking $50,000 in damages against both King’s and the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, an environmental organization that advocates for the conservation of its namesake, according to its website.
A spokesperson from King’s declined to comment on pending litigation when reached Monday. A call to the Chesapeake Bay Foundation was not immediately returned.
The lawsuit claims course instructor Brian Mangan did not give Ercolani the option to sit out during the activities, nor did the foundation properly warn of the dangerous condition of the premises.
Ercolani was not made aware of “the presence of uneven terrain below the surface of the water, the variance in the water level and of the variance of the depth and consistency of the mud on the floor of the marsh,” wrote Wilkes-Barre attorneys Ruth Slamon Borland and David P. Tomaszewski.
According to King’s website, the class is an upper-level “immersion course focused on the history, geology, economy and ecology of the Chesapeake Bay.” The class is taught by King’s faculty in partnership with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.