$10.5 Million Verdict for Family of Ugandan Activist Killed by Unsecured Gate at Arches National Park

In June 2020, Esther Nakajjigo and her husband were leaving Arches National Park near Moab, Utah, when a metal entrance gate swung violently into the passenger side of their car. A lock costing roughly $8 was all that was supposed to hold the gate in place. National Park Service employees had left it unsecured, in violation of federal policy, for approximately two weeks. The gate, driven by a gust of wind, sliced through the car door and killed Nakajjigo instantly. Her husband was in the driver's seat just feet away.

Nakajjigo was 25 years old. In Uganda she had built a reputation as a prominent women's-rights advocate, hosting a television program that reached an estimated 6.3 million weekly viewers and raising money to build healthcare facilities in her hometown. She had recently married and relocated to Denver on a leadership scholarship. She was named Uganda's 'Young Personality of the Year.'

The family, represented by Randi McGinn of McGinn, Montoya, Love, Curry and Sievers, sued the United States under the Federal Tort Claims Act. Liability was not in dispute: both sides agreed the gate should have been secured. The contested question was the measure of damages. The family sought $140 million, arguing Nakajjigo's earning potential and global influence warranted that figure. The government countered with roughly $3.5 million.

Judge Bruce Jenkins of the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah described the death as 'gruesome and overwhelmingly shocking.' He awarded $9.5 million to Nakajjigo's husband Ludovic Michaud, $700,000 to her mother Christine Namagembe, and $350,000 to her father John Bosco Kateregga, for a total of $10.5 million. The verdict was entered in January 2023.

McGinn called the judgment 'the largest federal wrongful-death verdict in Utah history.' No appeal or post-verdict reduction was reported in contemporaneous news coverage.