Woman blinded by flying golf disc in park receives $3 million

A Hermosa Beach woman blinded in one eye by an errant flying golf disc at Manhattan Beach’s Polliwog Park has settled a lawsuit against the
city for $3 million. Noreen Goodbody endured four surgeries up to eight hours long each in an unsuccessful attempt to save her vision after suffering a detached retina and traumatic cataract in the
wake of the August 2012 accident, said attorney

David Lederer of Los Angeles-based Lederer & Nojima. In the process, she racked up more than $202,000 in medical bills and faces the prospect of more surgeries amid ongoing medical problems caused by the sharp, heavy golf disc
slamming into her face.

Goodbody was unable to work for four months as a result of her disfiguring injury, is no longer able to drive on the freeway and finds walking on inclines such as escalator or stairs difficult because she lacks depth perception.

In a statement, City Attorney Quinn Barrow said Manhattan Beach officials were “deeply saddened that this unfortunate accident affected one of our community members. Nevertheless, we are pleased to have reached a settlement agreement.”

Barrow said the majority of the settlement cost was borne by the city’s risk management group policy shared with other Southern California cities. Manhattan Beach, he said, contributed $500,000 to the final settlement amount.
The City Council finally quietly decided to close the disc golf course at the park — the city’s busiest — indefinitely in 2014 following a closed-door City Council meeting, Lederer said.

“I know (my client) was extremely happy they actually shut the course down,” Lederer said. “One of her goals was to make that park safe again.”
But not before a 6-year-old boy sustained a life- threatening brain injury when a golf disc struck him as he played at the park in November 2013, more than a year after Goodbody suffered her horrific injury. Lederer said he has filed a lawsuit in that case, too.

Lederer, along with co-counsel David Ring of Los Angeles-based Taylor & Ring, filed
Goodbody’s lawsuit in September 2013.
Why it took a second serious injury before city officials finally banned disc golf at the park is unclear.
City officials did enact a more restrictive disc golf policy in August 2012 after the accident,vLederer said, covering the baskets that acted asvgolf holes with a vinyl lid during any specialvevents or when the park was at capacity.

At the time Goodbody was hit, she was watchingbher high-school-age daughter and 70 other kids run a preseason cross-country race at the park.