Water agency pays $14M after ‘unthinkable tragedy’ killed 2 California teens in canal
The families of two 17-year-olds who were fatally electrocuted in April while trying to save a dog from a canal in Dixon each received $7 million in civil settlements from the irrigation district, the families’ attorneys said Friday.
Jacob Schneider and Jacob Hourmouzus were killed after they jumped in the Weyand Canal off of Dixon Avenue West from a bridge that spanned it to save a dog that fell in. After rescuing the dog, they touched the metal railing of the bridge to pull themselves out of the water when they were electrocuted. Two other boys who were at the incident but did not jump in the water were also shocked, the families and authorities said at the time.
The Schneiders’ attorney, Robert Buccola, said in an email to The Sacramento Bee that the settlement paid $7 million to each family, which was received Friday.
Additionally, the Solano Irrigation District “assured all parties that immediate and swift action was taken following the happening of this unthinkable tragedy to make certain that other electrical delivery systems with similar characteristics ... were free from the dangerous defects,” Buccola wrote.
The SID board of directors unanimously passed a request for funding to update the infrastructure of all its electrical equipment, according to Buccola’s email, which will take approximately 10 years and will involve completely replacing or rebuilding 20 to 30 such facilities each year.
Jacob Schneider and Jacob Hourmouzus were both students of Dixon High School. Buccola said Schneider’s parents, Jim and Colleen Schneider, plan to use proceeds from the $7 million to help students in Dixon High School’s Class of 2020, as Jacob would have graduated with them in June.
The families contended that the bridge the boys had walked across and tried to use to pull themselves out of the water had become energized due to a jury-rigged breaker, which led to a lack of grounding.
“SID employees re-routed the electrical supply to bypass this overcurrent breaker protection and used a modified fuse system, but again, did so without properly grounding the system and to include the conduit, resulting in a free flowing current,” the Schneiders’ complaint in June claimed. “As a result, this dangerous bypass, without proper grounding, could and did allow the metal walking bridge to become electrically energized resulting in fatal injuries to the users of the bridge.”
The district said Friday night in a statement that the cause of the electrical fault “has not been fully determined” – including whether vandalism played a role – but it “is committed to ensuring that an accident like this is never repeated.”
“This terrible tragedy has devastated our community, the employees and management of the district, and all of us who know the families of Jacob Schneider and Jacob Hourmouzus,” the district wrote. “The grief, heartache and anguish of the management and employees of our District cannot be adequately underscored.”
The district also said it settled claims with the two other boys who were at the incident on April 1, but did not specify the terms of the resolution with them.
Buccola commended the district for working with the families to reach a deal.
“In my 35 years as a practicing lawyer, I have not seen defendants any more legitimately apologetic, shocked, and concerned about the losses suffered by these two families,” he wrote to The Bee. “This, along with their pledged commitment to take every effort to avert the occurrence of a similar future tragedy was and is greatly appreciated by the Schneider family.”
Attorney Daniel Wilcoxen, who represented Jacob’s parents, Brandon Hourmouzus and Candy Carrillo, echoed Buccola’s remarks but said he hoped the district will follow through on making sure all of its equipment is safe.
“No amount of money will bring back these two wonderful young men,” Wilcoxen told The Bee by phone and in an email. “However, it is hoped that this amount of money will get the attention of the Solano Irrigation District such that it will ensure that their promises to correct similar deficiencies in their systems are actually completed to prevent a future occurrence of this nature from ever happening again.”
The district, which had a 2019 operating budget of $9.9 million, said it conducted inspections of about 300 power stations in its service area following the incident “to eliminate the possibility of unknown hazards,” and would pursue a long-term modernization program of its electrical facilities. In all, the district maintains roughly 370 miles of canals, pipes and ditches.
In addition to domestic water service for about 1,200 customers and irrigation for about 3,000 more in Solano County, the district operates the Solano Project, which brings water from Lake Berryessa to its customers and four other cities outside the district, and the electric-generating Monticello Dam.
This story was originally published December 6, 2019 at 3:41 PM.
