Bat suit settled; rabies shots paid for

PROVO — The mother of a boy who played with a sick bat at Lehi High School in September 2007 has settled her lawsuit against Alpine School District for the cost of the rabies shots.

Traci Turner filed the suit in 4th District Court in July 2008, saying her teenage son came home and told her he had played with a bat he found on the school lawn.

The school had been plagued by bats for several months and school officials said they did what they could to exterminate them.

In response to the lawsuit, the school said it had informed the students through letters and announcements not to touch the bats, and also that students should have known better than to touch the sickly animals.

Anyone who did touch the bats was told to come to the office and the school would pay for the $1,500 cost of shots. A bat on the ground is an indication that it may be sick and could have rabies, which is fatal if not treated.

However, Turner's attorney, Matthew Howell, said his client never received a letter, and that there was confusion about whether the school would pay for Chase Turner's nearly $1,140 shots.

At first, Howell and Turner didn't realize the school was paying for anyone's shots, so their suit was filed as a class-action lawsuit, including any student who might have touched a bat, Howell said.

However, once the lawsuit was filed and Howell realized the school was paying, they asked about Chase's shots and the school agreed to pay for those as well.

"We're doing what the district would have done anyway, regardless of the lawsuit," said attorney Reed Stringham, who represented the school district.

The settlement of $1,138.87 closed the case in late January, and the Turners are grateful it's over, Howell said.

"I think both sides were reasonable on this," he said. "We did what we needed to do to protect our respective clients."

E-mail: sisraelsen@desnews.com