Woman who dropped baby from bridge sues bridge owner for stress
Canadian Press
Aug. 24, 2004 11:05 AM
VANCOUVER - Nadia Hama, who dropped her infant daughter from the Capilano Suspension Bridge nearly five years ago, is pressing ahead with a suit against the operators of the privately owned tourist attraction.
Hama cannot hold down a job in Toronto and suffers ongoing emotional stress because of the negative publicity still surrounding her case, her lawyer says.
Persistent notoriety chased her to Toronto, where she relocated in 2001 shortly after launching the suit, lawyer Neil Searles said Monday after a hearing in B.C. Supreme Court into the merits of Nadia Hama vs. Capilano Suspension Bridge and Park.
"When people find out who she is, suddenly they don't need her any more," said Searles, one of three Toronto lawyers representing Hama in her suit.
Hama is seeking general, special and punitive damages against the bridge operators for nervous shock, mental and emotional stress and costs.
Hama blames the operators for causing the 1999 bridge incident that garnered international media attention when North Vancouver police suggested Hama be charged in the case.
She claims she stumbled accidentally and the child slipped from her grasp, tumbling over the narrow footbridge's low railing.
Hama's daughter Kaya, then 17 months old, miraculously survived the plunge after tree branches broke her 150-foot fall into the rocky canyon.
Hama was never charged but the incident was followed by an acrimonious divorce case.
Hama's ex-husband, North Vancouver securities lawyer Kjeld Werbes, has custody of Kaya and their son, Jovan, who was four at the time of the incident.
During the divorce proceedings, Werbes claimed Hama deliberately dropped Kaya, who has Down Syndrome, off the bridge.
Now an occasional Toronto hairdresser and esthetician, Hama, 43, visits her children in Vancouver several times a year, according to court documents.
Hama, who was not in court, reportedly suffers flashbacks, depression and post traumatic stress disorder. According to court files, she fears the future and the media.
Hama launched a lawsuit against Capilano Suspension Bridge Holdings Ltd. in September 2001.
She claimed it was negligent in failing to warn the public not to carry children across the narrow bridge, that the bridge is "inherently unstable and dangerous" and that signs should be posted warning visitors to watch their step while crossing the bridge, which sways at times.
Lawyers for the company on Monday asked the court to have the case - due for jury trial starting Nov. 15 - dismissed on grounds bridge operators were not negligent.
In fact, they argued, it was Hama who was solely responsible for the incident.
The court watched a police video re-enactment of the incident featuring three Japanese students who witnessed the event.
It also heard parts of an affidavit by one of those students, Toshiko Nakano, who said she did not see Hama slip or fall that day, but watched the infant fall "smoothly" from her mother's arms.
Hamas is seeking general, special and punitive damages against the bridge operators for nervous shock, mental and emotional stress and costs.
