Hicks family settles lawsuit against city

This story has been altered from the way it appeared in print to include a statement from the family's attorney.

The civil suit filed by Jaymie Hicks and Jonni Cullison, the parents of Jayden Hicks, had been set for a jury trial scheduled to start May 14 in Saline County District Court. Before the trial date, Jayden's parents and representatives of the city were to attempt to find a resolution through mediation, according to a scheduling order filed by Judge Bill Elliott, a retired senior judge assigned to hear the case.

After filing the $10.5 million civil lawsuit, Hicks’ parents previously reached undisclosed settlements with the manufacturer of the junction box and company that installed it.

Elliott, the former chief judge of the 17th Judicial District in northwest Kansas, who traveled to Saline County to hear the case, previously dismissed the city of Salina from the lawsuit, citing recreational use immunity.

Decision appealed

Under Kansas law, municipalities aren’t liable for damages on public property, such as parks and playgrounds, unless the government or a government employee “is guilty of gross and wanton negligence.” Elliott determined the city’s actions didn’t constitute gross and wanton negligence, which led the girl’s parents to take their case to the Kansas Court of Appeals.

In May 2016, a three-judge panel of the appeals court overturned Elliott’s summary judgment in the city’s favor. In their ruling, the judges explained that they weren’t ruling the city was negligent, only that Elliott was wrong to decide the matter without a trial.

In June, the Kansas Supreme Court denied the city’s petition for review of the appeals court decision, and Elliott set the case for a jury trial.

All confidential

According to a court journal entry, the case was dismissed upon mutual motion of the city and the Hicks family on Aug. 30. Each party paid its own legal fees.

An attorney representing the family said he could not comment on the settlement.

"Per the terms of the agreement the parties are unable to make any comment on the resolution of the case," wrote attorney Michael Rader, of Leawood, who represented Jayden's parents.

Attorney James Nordstrom, of Topeka, who represented the city in the case, said all he was at liberty to say was that the case was resolved.

City Manager Jason Gage said the city's insurance carrier resolved the matter.

"The resolution is confidential, consistent with the wishes of the family," Gage wrote, in a message to the Journal. "In order to honor the family's wishes, I don't believe it would be appropriate for me to comment further."

Slipped in rain

Jayden was 11 years old on May 29, 2013, when she was playing in and near Campbell Plaza in downtown Salina during a rainstorm and slipped in a puddle, falling onto an in-ground junction box. The metal cover of the box was electrically charged with high voltage.

Firefighters pried Hicks from the junction box and gave immediate medical care, but the injuries were fatal. She died seven months later, on Dec. 31, 2013, at the age of 12.

The junction box had been installed in the 1980s by a company the city hired to do electrical work. According to court records, the city never inspected the wiring inside the box, and a ground wire was never installed.