A North American Mission Board (NAMB) student missionary paralyzed in a 2009 rollover crash has been awarded $26 million in a settlement with the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) entity’s insurers.
Personal injury lawyer Alexander Blewett III in Great Falls, Montana, said the $26 million settlement, the largest in state history, is not considered an admission of guilt by NAMB.
On June 19, however, District Judge Mike Salvagni of Gallatin County ruled the agency was liable for 27-year-old Jeremy Vangsnes’ injuries.
Lawyers representing Vangsnes — an All-American collegiate distance runner before suffering brain injuries that rendered him a quadriplegic during a 10-week recreational missions assignment at Yellowstone National Park — said insurance companies agreed to pay their full insurance policy limits after a Montana state judge ruled that the car’s driver was acting within the course and scope of his NAMB assignment when the wreck occurred.
Vangsnes, then 21, a rising senior at Coastal Carolina University in Conway, South Carolina, was traveling with his brothers Ryan, 19, and Daniel, 23, in a Jeep Cherokee driven by Scott Minear, 20-year-old junior at the University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia, in a return trip from Glacier National Park on July 21, 2009. Witnesses said near Belgrade, Montana, the vehicle drifted off Interstate 90 onto the grass, overcorrected and then rolled several times before stopping in the median.
All four were injured, and Jeremy Vangses most critically. After initially being reported dead at the scene, he was flown to St. Vincent Healthcare in Billings and later transferred to long-term care.
They were serving as self-funded “Innovator” student missionaries over the summer and were returning on an eight-hour drive after meeting with members of the Vangsnes family. While not allowed to go home unless there is an emergency, testimony at the trial indicated the missionaries got permission from a leader, carried on with their Christian witness during the trip and were expected to represent Southern Baptists in their lifestyle even during off times.
Blewett said the award will allow Vangsnes’ father, who serves as Jeremy’s full-time caregiver, to hire 24-hour skilled nursing care and buy a house that is more handicapped accessible.
"Nothing will undo the tragedy that robbed this talented young man of his future," Anders Blewett said in a media release. "But this money will allow Jeremy to live the fullest life possible."
Dennis Culbreth, senior assistant to then NAMB President Geoff Hammond, flew to Montana immediately after hearing of the accident. Morris Chapman, then president of the SBC Executive Committee, happened to be vacationing nearby and visited the hospital in Billings after learning of the accident on his Blackberry.
NAMB set up a special fund for both families. The Vangsnes’ home church, First Baptist Church, Spartanburg, South Carolina, also established a fund for the family.
Mark Vangsnes, Jeremy’s father, described support his family received from both their home church and Southern Baptists in Montana as “unreal” in an interview with the Baptist Courier a month after the wreck.
Minear’s mother, Tammy, a member of SBC-affiliated Crosspointe Community Church, Roswell, Georgia, said her family was “awestruck” by “how quickly so many people from so many avenues — the Southern Baptist Convention, NAMB, local churches — responded.”
“Churches here are ministering to us with their presence, with food, drinks, places to stay,” Tammy Minear said. “All the prayers have been so felt…. [W]e have been constantly aware of people praying for us. We feel like we’re wrapped up not only in God’s arms, but in the arms of people around the world, who are praying for us.”
(BNG)
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