The parents of Fabrizio Stabile, who died last year after contracting brain-eating amoeba while surfing at BSR Cable Park, have filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the waterpark.
According to the lawsuit, “BSR’s blue-green dyed waves masked a pathogen soup in which Naegleria fowleri amoeba — ‘the brain-eating amoeba’ — could thrive.”
Stabile and his friends came from New Jersey to surf at the park on Sept. 8.
“While he was surfing and in the water at BSR Surf Park, Naegleria fowleri amoebae from BSR’s toxic water entered into Fabrizio Stabile’s nose and migrated into his brain,” the suit claims. “Once there, the amoeba fed on brain and other cells, causing horrific injury and pain, and ultimately Fabrizio Stabile’s death on Sept. 21, 2018.”
The lawsuit says that a team from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and officials from the state and local health departments, examined the park and took water samples. The lawsuit alleges that the results from these inspections “are a powerful indictment of BSR.”
After testing, CDC said that exposure to the amoeba likely occurred at the facility.
The lawsuit claims that Stabile wouldn’t have died if the water park officials “had they exercised ordinary care in the operation of their water park.”
BSR owner Stuart E. Parsons Jr. said that his heart goes out to the Stabile family and that “only God knows where he got the amoeba.”
Parsons added that BSR has installed a $2 million filtration system approved by Texas Department of State Health Services and the Waco-McLennan County Public Health District.
“When they saw what we did, their jaws literally dropped,” Parson said of the new system. “… I don’t want a chance of it even happening. I let my 2-year-old twins get in all of our water at BSR and our ski lakes. They play in the water and drink it, it splashes in their face and could get up in their nose. No parent should ever bury their kid, and my heart goes out to their family.”
Rita and Vincenzo Stabile, the parents of Fabrizio, are seeking more than $1 million damages from the lawsuit.
If you would like information about personal injury claims visit Cohen & Cohen to learn more.
