Student Impaled by Bamboo on School Service Trip Wins $10.75 Million

In the fall of 2018, a 15-year-old boarding student at the Miller School of Albemarle, a private college-preparatory school near Crozet, Virginia, traveled with a school group to maintain the grounds of a Veterans of Foreign Wars lodge along the Rivanna River. The task involved cutting back an overgrown stand of bamboo. Prior volunteer groups had already cut many stalks at ground level, leaving sharp, spear-like canes concealed among the remaining growth.

During the project, the student lost his footing and fell. A partially cut bamboo stalk impaled him through his anus, punctured his rectal wall and bladder, and drove far enough to pierce his abdominal wall. He was airlifted for emergency surgery and spent nearly six weeks relying on a colostomy bag. Physicians later determined that the injuries left him unlikely to father children, even through IVF, and he developed post-traumatic stress disorder as a direct consequence of the incident.

Attorney Kevin Biniazan of Breit Biniazan took the case on the theory that the school failed to properly assess the site before sending students in, and that the cutting work being done by successive volunteer groups was making the hazard worse, not better. At trial, Biniazan argued that the school was creating more danger than existed before the students arrived, pointing to the sharpened cane stumps left behind by earlier clearing efforts.

The VFW lodge, as a landowner with some responsibility for the property, settled its share of the liability for $750,000 before the jury returned its verdict. Miller School had sought dismissal on a 'special plea of charitable immunity,' but the court rejected that defense and allowed the civil suit to proceed. After four days of testimony, a seven-person Charlottesville Circuit Court jury awarded $10 million against the school in late 2022.

With the VFW settlement added, total recoveries reached $10.75 million. Court filings identified the plaintiff by initials only to protect his privacy. The school held a $25 million umbrella insurance policy, a detail both sides acknowledged during litigation.