Littlejohn suit will need to be dismissed and refiled

The attorney for 2010 Scotts Bluff County Fair Queen Jessica Littlejohn and her father Bill " Chip" Littlejohn says he will need to refile a suit against four defendants after he admitted Monday he did not serve them with the complaint within the required six month time frame required by state statute. Lincoln attorney Sam Segrist said during a hearing Monday in Scotts Bluff County District Court he will have to dismiss the original suit before refiling a new complaint.

The suit claims the Scotts Bluff County Ag Society, the County Fair, the Fair Board, and the Scholarship Fair Board Pageant were negligent when Jessica Littlejohn was charged and struck by a bull inside the Fair rodeo arena in Mitchell two years ago.

Gering attorney Bob Brenner has also filed a motion to dismiss the Scholarship Fair Pageant Board from the suit, claiming there is no such entity and that the pageant is simply an activity conducted by volunteers who are directly under the Scotts Bluff County Ag Society. Segrist contends there is documentation confirming a Pageant Board, with Cheryl Englehaupt as Director.

Segrist confirmed during the hearing Monday that Scotts Bluff County has been dismissed from the suit and will not be a defendant when the action is refiled.

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Littlejohn, other contestants in the Fair Pageant and the reigning Miss Nebraska and future Miss America Teresa Scanlan were being introduced to the crowd prior to the August 6th, 2010 bull riding event when a bull broke free from the chute, hit Littlejohn, and threw her into the air. Littlejohn was hospitalized after suffering a concussion and other injuries.

The original suit said the defendants were negligent for not confining the bull to its pen, for placing the contestants in front of the pens with their backs to the bulls, and for failing to warn the contestants of the danger they were being exposed to.

The suit said Littlejohn sustained serious personal, emotional, and psychological injuries in addition to a brain and closed head injury.

The suit asked for almost $29,000 in medical expenses plus additional damages for physical pain and mental suffering, permanent physical disability and impairment, impairment of future earning capacity and loss of enjoyment of life.

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