BILLINGS — One of Billings's largest mass injury incidents occurred when a back deck of the restaurant at Briarwood Country Club collapsed on July 22, resulting in multiple people being transferred to the hospital.
Less than two weeks later, law firms are attempting to reach out to those involved in the collapse through social media ads.
Schevek and Salminen Law Firm in Billings is one that has a post on their Facebook page that says in part, "If you, or someone you know, is ever involved in an event like this, there are crucial steps you should take, after immediately addressing your medical needs," written in their caption.
“Definitely get your injuries looked at because that’s going to help you prove your damages later. And then your second call should probably be to an attorney,” Vincent Salminen said on Tuesday.
For privacy reasons, Salminen could not answer if anyone involved in the deck collapse has reached out to the law firm, but he did anticipate that lawsuits will be filed. A clerk at Yellowstone County District Court confirmed Tuesday that no civil lawsuits had been filed against Briarwood.
“I would say that there are some lawsuits coming up here, settlements with insurance for the people that were injured," Salminen said. "Sounds like it's probably going to be a negligence-type case.”
Salminen said some damages people could sue for include medical expenses, lost wages and pain and suffering.
“There’s a lot of different things that need to be investigated as to why this collapsed,” Salminen said.
MTN News reached out to Briarwood Country Club on Tuesday for an update, but the general manager was unavailable and another board member declined to comment.
“I mean the first finger pointed probably going to be at Briarwood, but there could be issues with the engineering of the deck. The construction of the deck, maintenance, whether it was maintained by an outside company. Those are all things that need to be looked at before anyone’s going to be totally responsible,” Salminen said.
