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Former gymnast sues in the US
Source: Agencies |
April 30, 2011, Saturday
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A FORMER champion Chinese gymnast paralyzed in an accident at the 1998 Goodwill Games has filed a US$1.8 billion lawsuit against the former AOL Time Warner Inc media and entertainment company and the United States Gymnastics Federation, saying promises to care for her afterward were broken.
The lawsuit was filed in federal court in Manhattan on Thursday by lawyers for Sang Lan, who broke her neck during a warm-up at the games in New York.
Her lawyers say her condition has deteriorated because the company, now called Time Warner, and the gymnastics organization failed to follow through on promises to make sure her medical bills and other needs were covered.
Time Warner spokeswoman Mallory Zalkin said she had no comment. The Indianapolis-based gymnastics foundation also said it had no immediate comment.
The lawsuit says Sang was left paralyzed from the mid-chest down after she fractured and dislocated two vertebrae and injured her spinal cord when, after she pushed off from the vault, someone removed a mat before she landed.
It notes that celebrities including Leonardo DiCaprio, Celine Dion and Christopher Reeve visited her and offered support after the accident. Then-Vice President Al Gore and his family visited her in the hospital.
The lawsuit says Sang, 29, has become a celebrity and an advocate for the disabled in China. Yet, it adds, she has been victimized recently by two Chinese-Americans appointed as her legal guardians after the accident over the objections of her parents by the Chinese Gymnastics Association.
It says she has been subjected to a propaganda campaign to smear her name and that the two people have been in control of her medical treatment and connections with American doctors.
"Living in China for the past 13 years, Ms Lan (sic) was literally unable to sue in an American court or Chinese court," the lawsuit says. "Ms Lan has been struggling for the past 13 years in China, without proper medical insurance coverage, without a penny compensatory damage for her fatal (sic) permanent injury, without freedom or recourse to seek justice."
The lawsuit was filed in federal court in Manhattan on Thursday by lawyers for Sang Lan, who broke her neck during a warm-up at the games in New York.
Her lawyers say her condition has deteriorated because the company, now called Time Warner, and the gymnastics organization failed to follow through on promises to make sure her medical bills and other needs were covered.
Time Warner spokeswoman Mallory Zalkin said she had no comment. The Indianapolis-based gymnastics foundation also said it had no immediate comment.
The lawsuit says Sang was left paralyzed from the mid-chest down after she fractured and dislocated two vertebrae and injured her spinal cord when, after she pushed off from the vault, someone removed a mat before she landed.
It notes that celebrities including Leonardo DiCaprio, Celine Dion and Christopher Reeve visited her and offered support after the accident. Then-Vice President Al Gore and his family visited her in the hospital.
The lawsuit says Sang, 29, has become a celebrity and an advocate for the disabled in China. Yet, it adds, she has been victimized recently by two Chinese-Americans appointed as her legal guardians after the accident over the objections of her parents by the Chinese Gymnastics Association.
It says she has been subjected to a propaganda campaign to smear her name and that the two people have been in control of her medical treatment and connections with American doctors.
"Living in China for the past 13 years, Ms Lan (sic) was literally unable to sue in an American court or Chinese court," the lawsuit says. "Ms Lan has been struggling for the past 13 years in China, without proper medical insurance coverage, without a penny compensatory damage for her fatal (sic) permanent injury, without freedom or recourse to seek justice."
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