A former swimmer who shattered a vertebrae during a start in 2005, leaving her a quadriplegic, begins a civil trial this week against the Regina facility where she was injured. That’s according to a report from the Regina Leader-Post.
Miranda Biletski was just 16 years old at the time, competing for the Regina Piranhas Summer Swim Club in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. During a practice at the University of Regina, Biletski was diving off of starting blocks into four feet of water when she struck her head on the bottom of the pool and shattered a vertebrae. She is now confined to a wheelchair, and was a 2016 Paralympian in wheelchair rugby.
She’s suing the University of Regina for negligence on a number of claims. According to the Regina Leader-Post: “allowing diving from blocks when the pool depth was insufficient to allow safe entry to the water, having insufficient water in the pool, following a standard that was inadequate to protect competitive swimmers from injury, using inappropriate or incorrectly configured diving blocks, and failing to inform competitive swimmers of the potential risks.”
The University denies the claims, saying the school had a contract with the club, and that under the contract, club members assume all liability. The University has also launched a third-party claim against the swim club itself. The club admits it does have a contract with the facility, but disputes that it could be liable for Biletski’s injuries as well.
The trial is expected to run for several weeks.
