Two golfers from California are suing the management company of a luxury real estate development and golf course near Coalville after an accident on the property allegedly left the pair trapped under an overturned golf cart.
Wasaga Clack and Robert Duley filed the lawsuit against Wohali Partners last week. They claimed they sustained “catastrophic injuries” on July 18, 2024, when a “defective golf cart with failing brakes violently rolled over on an unreasonably dangerous cart path.” The golf cart reportedly pinned the two visitors underneath the vehicle when it flipped.
The complaint named Wohali Partners as a defendant in addition to five “John Does,” whom the lawsuit said are unidentified individuals responsible for operating, inspecting and servicing golf carts on Wohali’s property.
“While descending from the 16th green toward the 17th tee, (Clack and Duley) traveled downhill on a paved cart path featuring a sustained, steep grade that leads directly into a sharp downhill switchback turn,” court documents said. “As Plaintiffs lightly applied the brakes to control speed on the descent, the golf cart’s braking system suddenly seized and locked, causing the cart to lose traction, fishtail and accelerate uncontrollably downhill.”
The golf cart then rolled onto its side when it entered the switchback turn, and both men were ejected from the vehicle, thrown to the ground and pinned beneath it, “suffering severe physical injuries,” according to the lawsuit.
The complaint listed multiple perceived issues with Wohali’s golf cart management, including the steep grade of the path, “inadequate or absent” warning signs and “an uneven and worn surface condition consistent with prior sliding events, indicating a recurring problem.”
“A second golf cart in Plaintiffs’ foursome, operated by other members of their group, experienced (a) similar brake-lock malfunction in the same location moments later, narrowly avoiding a similar rollover,” court documents said. “The recurrence of identical brake failure under identical conditions demonstrates a systemic mechanical defect and/or negligent maintenance, not operator error or an isolated incident.”
The lawsuit claimed Clack and Duley were operating the golf cart carefully in a “prudent manner consistent with ordinary use” and that the duo “did nothing to cause, contribute to or exacerbate the incident.”
The complaint said the defendants “should have known” of the path’s “dangerous condition,” as well as the “absence of protective safety features.”
“The risks that materialized in this incident were not inherent risks of golfing or normal golf cart operation and were not risks that Plaintiffs knowingly and voluntarily assumed,” the lawsuit said.
Specifically, the complaint claimed Wohali Partners were negligent for reportedly offering the golfers a defective vehicle in addition to failing to maintain the premises “in a reasonably safe condition.”
Clack and Duley requested a jury trial to settle the dispute. They’re asking to be awarded general damages and special damages, including medical expenses and lost wages.
Wohali Partners has not yet responded to the lawsuit.
Wohali Land Estates, the real estate arm of the Wohali development, declared bankruptcy in federal court last year after a series of lawsuits were filed with claims that the company had failed to pay contractors for work done on the property.
The business listed a reported debt totaling almost $13 million for its top 20 creditors alone, with an estimated 100 to 199 creditors owed between $100 million and $500 million.