Mom sues surf park
The mother of a man who died of a brain-infecting amoeba after surfing at a Waco-area water park sues the facility, arguing that negligence led to her son’s death.
The mother of a man who died of a brain-infecting amoeba after surfing at a Waco-area water park has sued the facility, arguing that negligence contributed to her son’s death.
Fabrizio Stabile visited the Barefoot Ski Ranch on Sept. 8. He died 13 days later, killed by a socalled brain-eating amoeba known by scientists as Naegleria fowleri.
His mother, Rita Stabile, is seeking more than $1 million in a wrongful death suit filed April 9 against the Texas company, Parsons Barefoot Ski Ranch, or BSR. The company could have prevented her son’s death “had they exercised ordinary care in the operation of their water park,” alleges the civil suit, filed in McLennan County District Court.
Park owner Stuart Parsons wrote in an email Tuesday, “Our hearts go out to the family of Fab. Only God knows where he got the ameoba (sic).” Plaintiff ’s attorney Brian Wunder declined to comment.
A new water filtration system was installed in the surf park after Stabile’s death, according to a video posted to the attraction’s Facebook page. And the park, which closed for the winter shortly after the incident, is now open to surfers.
David Litke, environmental health manager for the Waco-McLennan County Public Health District, said district employees inspected the new system in March prior to the park’s reopening.
Stabile, described in the suit as the only son in a tight-knit family, decided last summer to go with friends from New Jersey to the park, according to the court document.
BSR is known for its artificial wave that patrons can surf, an increasingly popular trend that has
raised questions over how such facilities should be regulated.
A similar park in Austin, NLand Surf Park, is regulated under new “artificial swimming lagoon” legislation that passed in 2017. Travis County first tried to regulate it as a swimming pool, but NLand officials pushed back, saying that was neither feasible nor appropriate.
Most water parks have features that are considered pools, such as with catch pools for slides. Some have fresh water that flows in and then out, and these features are not regulated by the state.
Artificial lagoons are now defined as recreational bodies of water “with more than 20,000 square feet of surface area, an artificial liner, and a method of disinfectant.”
Litke said he believes BSR falls in the same category.
“Last year that was the big question: What are these things?” Litke said.
The law requires that lagoons be maintained “in a sanitary condition,” but specific enforcement standards are still being finalized by the Texas Department of State Health Services. The standards are expected to be published this summer.
Unbeknownst to Stabile, the suit says, the park’s “blue-green dyed waves masked a pathogen soup in which Naegleria fowleri amoeba — the ‘brain-eating amoeba’ — could thrive.”
Indeed, test results from health officials found his “exposure likely occurred” at the park. The report found conditions favorable for its growth.
Suggested guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for public swimming pools recommend free chlorine levels between 1 and 3 parts per million, and a pH level between 7.2 and 7.8.
Testing at the surf resort six days after Stabile’s death measured free chlorine at less than 0.02 parts per million and pH at 9.3.
The amoeba that killed Stablie is commonly found in warm freshwater but, according to the CDC, not in well-maintained pools.
Prior to installing the new filtration system, Litke said, the water at the surf park wasn’t treated — save for an occasional large dose of chlorine.
Parsons, the owner, wrote in his email that operators “put chemicals in the water to make it safe.” He noted that the amoeba, which rarely infects people, was not found in the surf park water. (It was found at another attraction at BSR.)
BSR invested significantly in the new water filtration system, Parsons wrote, and his 2-year-old twins play in the water. He said the surf was full daily.
“I don’t want a chance of it even happening,” Parsons wrote.
The lawsuit says the company owed it to its customers “to maintain the water in a safe condition.” It continues: “Defendants breached their duty to keep the water safe.”