Christopher Morgan and his friends had been drinking alcohol and smoking marijuana one night in July 2007 when they crawled through a hole in the chain-link fence surrounding the abandoned federal defense mapping site on South Broadway, near what's now the River City Casino.
Ameren Missouri agreed not to introduce evidence that Morgan violated city ordinances regulating minors' curfew and trespassing as well as state and city laws dealing with minors buying and possessing alcohol and possessing marijuana.One of Morgan's friends heard him scream, saw sparks fly and then saw him fall. Morgan was pronounced dead at the scene.The four teenagers had walked around the 39-acre property and through some of the old buildings for more than an hour when Morgan, 16, ran ahead in a parking lot. Lying on the pavement were three utility poles, an energized power line, the neutral part of a supply system and a transformer. Woodchips and oil also were spread around the pavement.According to the defense documents, it isn't clear where Morgan lived between 2002 and 2005, although he lived with his mother in Scott County during at least part of 2005. At the time of his death, Morgan was living with his half-sister, her boyfriend and their children, and he was working as a plumber's helper for C.J. Plumbing Co.Court: St. Louis Circuit CourtCase Number/Date: 0922-CC10115/July 27, 2011Ameren Missouri's defense documents detail Morgan's night of partying, which began July 29, 2007, and ended with his death at about 3 a.m. the next day. The defense documents also said the utility poles had been vandalized before Morgan and his friends arrived.Morgan's mother, Tina Morgan, sued the St. Louis County Port Authority, which bought the property in 2006, and Ameren Missouri, known as AmerenUE when the case was filed.The trial was to start July 27 in St. Louis Circuit Court. But before a jury panel could be seated for questioning, the parties told Judge Bryan Hettenbach they had settled their dispute.Morgan lived in his grandmother's home with his mother and half- sister for the first 6 1/2 years of his life. But in 1997, he moved in with his aunt and only spent weekends with his mother. He lived with his aunt until she and her husband divorced in 2002.Tina Morgan, represented by W. Morris Taylor and Scott A. Bailey, of Taylor's Clayton law firm, alleged Ameren Missouri was negligent for failing to de-energize power lines on the abandoned property, failing to keep high-voltage lines high enough and isolated enough to prevent electrocution, failing to detect downed power lines and failing to repair or de-energize downed power lines.Caption: Tina M. Morgan v. Union Electric Co. d/b/a AmerenUEThe defense, represented by Armstrong Teasdale's James J. Virtel and Karen A. Baudendistel, also disputed Tina Morgan's claim that she's entitled to recover for the loss of companionship, guidance and support of her son.The confidential settlement is between Tina Morgan and Ameren Missouri. Last September, Judge Robert H. Dierker Jr. granted the port authority's motion for summary judgment based on the fact that Morgan was trespassing and that his mother could not show that others frequently had trespassed where Morgan died. If others had done so, the port authority would have known about it and would have owed Morgan a duty of care, the judge concluded.Judge: Bryan HettenbachHettenbach provisionally granted the plaintiff's motion to prevent the defendant from introducing the opinions of its electrical engineering expert as well as the plaintiff's motion to prevent the defendant from introducing school records suggesting Tina Morgan's home was abusive or that Christopher Morgan's aunt was his legal guardian.Wrongful deathBoth Virtel and Taylor said in emails that they could not comment on the case.A flurry of pretrial motions was filed last September, when the trial originally was to have been held. The plaintiff wanted to prohibit defense lawyers from referring to Morgan as a trespasser, from introducing evidence that Morgan had been drinking alcohol and smoking marijuana and from introducing evidence of how long the transformer, and the oil spilled from it, had been on the ground. Hettenbach denied each of these motions.Confidential settlementPlaintiff's Attorneys: W. Morris Taylor and Scott A. Bailey, W. Morris Taylor, ClaytonDefendant's Attorneys: James J. Virtel and Karen A. Baudendistel, Armstrong Teasdale, Clayton
Defendant's Attorneys: James J. Virtel and Karen A. Baudendistel, Armstrong Teasdale, Clayton
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