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A lawsuit involving a bear attack last year, which killed a boy in American Fork, will return to federal court tomorrow. Attorneys for the U.S. government plan to argue to have the case dismissed.
The family of 11-year-old Samuel Ives has filed two lawsuits, seeking damages after Ives was attacked and killed by a bear while he was in the family's tent. The first lawsuit is against the state of Utah and Division of Wildlife Resources, and the second was filed against the U.S. Forest Service.
Ives' family accuses the government agencies of negligence for failing to warn them that a bear had been in the same area of the forest earlier in the day.
Wildlife managers spent several hours searching for the bear but could not find it and left the canyon that evening. That's when the Ives family arrived to camp with his family, unknowingly in the same place, and the bear attacked later that night. The family is suing for $2 million.
Government lawyers say they will argue the Forest Service and federal government are immune from liability in the case and that there are numerous warning signs in the forest about the dangers of bears. They also add the family was not camping in a developed campground, but in a remote area of the forest.
Arguments in the lawsuit filed against the Division of Wildlife Resources will be heard in January.
E-mail: spenrod@ksl.com
