Legal case unfolds over man's injuries

Jason Bell lost his left arm and leg after spending hours in a frozen trench with his foot stuck in an abandoned septic tank on New Year’s Day 2008.

When he died at age 25 about three months ago, his body was surrounded by anti-depressants, painkillers and an assortment of other medications.

Now his brother is carrying on a lawsuit that seeks to prove the owner of the property where the injuries occurred was negligent and therefore responsible for paying damages.

The civil trial pits Mike Bell against Larry and Carrie Cummings, owners of the White Birch Motel and RV Park on Shady Lane in Evergreen.

Attorneys on both sides delivered their opening remarks Tuesday in Flathead County District Court.

Jury members learned early in the trial about Bell’s injuries and subsequent death. The question that remains to be answered is whether or not his alleged drug use contributed to the accident and, if so, to what degree.

The Cummings have postulated that had he not been under the influence of drugs, he could have extricated himself or avoided the situation altogether. Mike Bell counters that the area was not marked and a set of trenches posed a threat that should have been mitigated.

Methamphetine and PCP were found in Bell’s system the day he was rescued, according to court documents. The tests concluded only that the substances were present, but stopped short of establishing quantity.

Attorneys for both the defendants and Mike Bell directed questions to the first round of witnesses and experts Wednesday. Two days into what is expected to be a four-day trial, jurors have heard from a safety specialist, a coroner and a doctor, among others. Each of them were questioned, some briefly, about Bell’s drug use.

Paul Sandry, the Cummings’ attorney, made the direction of the defense clear during Tuesday’s jury selection process. He said a conversation on the life of Jason Bell would not be complete without raising the issue of illegal narcotics.

“You would not be here if not for Jason Bell’s drug use,” Sandry told a pool of some 20 perspective jurors. “I promise you that.”

Mike Bell admits his younger brother was navigating a difficult time in his young life.

The son who was “a little late leaving the nest” was grappling with the loss of his mother and apparently had turned to drugs. Jason Bell was the one who discovered her body, Mike Bell said.

It was her death that brought him to Northwest Montana, where he lived in Libby with his father and an older brother until late 2007 when he moved to Kalispell.

“He was up there trying to cope with everything and grieving,” Mike Bell said recently from his home near Lake Arrowhead, Calif.

Bell had moved out of a home in Kalispell and was living at the White Birch Motel by January 2008. On New Year’s Day, he apparently wandered away from his room.

In the days prior, Larry Cummings had dug a trench 20 to 30 feet long and two to six feet deep, according to court documents. His goal was to uncover a septic system and find an apparent leak.

It was winter, below zero, and there is some evidence Bell was not properly dressed for the weather, according to court documents. At some point, he walked across the trenches. His foot broke through the septic tank — and there he languished on the snow-covered ground for an unknown amount of time.

Rick Gill, a safety and risk management expert, testified Wednesday that the area was void of any markers indicating ongoing construction and that the lighting in the area was poor.

By the time emergency responders extricated him from the trench, it was 2:30 a.m. and he was barely conscious, suffering extreme hypothermia and in dire need of medical attention.

Dr. Jason Bechard testified Wednesday that Bell’s body temperature had plummeted to 80 degrees by the time he was rolled into the Kalispell Regional Medical Center Emergency Room.

A CT scan revealed brain damage that all but erased the man’s recollection of events. The muscles in his left leg and arm likewise were damaged. Bechard said it was determined that much of the tissue in those extremities already was dead. The decision was made to remove the arm below the elbow and the leg at the knee to save the rest of his body.

Bechard testified that the presence of PCP could have been a false positive resulting from the use of a legal medication. Bell had denied using it prior to his death.

Under questioning from Sandry, Bechard also admitted that use of PCP could, albeit hypothetically, cause someone to walk into cold weather without appropriate clothing.

Mike Bell, limiting his comments as the trial proceeds, said during a brief recess Wednesday that his desire to pursue the lawsuit his brother left behind cannot be completely described as a need for justice or money.

“Accountability,” he said. “You don’t learn if you’re not held accountable.”

Mike Bell is asking for unspecified damages in the lawsuit.

The trial resumes at 9 a.m. today. District Judge Katherine Curtis is presiding over the case.

Reporter Eric Schwartz may be reached at 758-4441 or by e-mail at eschwartz@dailyinterlake.com.