My precious, beautiful son Andrew was renting a beach house with 13 other college kids in Kill Devil Hills. He and another young man were on the second story deck.They were horsing around.His friend pushed him into the deck rail which gave way, opening like a door. The two fell to the ground. His friend landed on the grass, was o.k., my son on a metal sewer cap. He became an instant quad, with a complete c3 fracture which eventually killed him after 3 weeks. The top wood engineer in the country from Harvard University said a 2 year old or a church lady could have leaned on the rail and the same thing would have happened. Because the two had a few beers, it was considered contributory negligence,and the lawyer we had abandoned the case 2 weeks before the trial, saying nothing would come of it. If I had the money I'd have hired another. There are no building codes regulating this, and the owner wasn't even required to carry insurance. This deck had previously been worked on. The ownwer has gone on with his life, even owning more property in the area, and my precious only son is dead. I am in utter shock that his life was considered so worthless by the lawmakers of this land.My heart is broken. I would like to warn others of the dangers of renting a beach home on the Outer Banks.
