Practice Areas

Legal News

Library

Parents Sue Virginia Military Academy For Son’s Deadly Fall

Steven W. Bailey and Chanel Noel were shocked to learn that their 17-year-old son, Noel Patrick Sandy Bailey, fell from his dorm room at the Massanutten Military Academy in Woodstock, Virginia, in April 2007. Now they are suing the Virginia military school for wrongful death, claiming that the school could have prevented their son's tragedy.

Woodstock, VA, police ruled the deadly fall a suicide - and an autopsy revealed that the young man suffered from burst lungs and skull and neck fractures. Sandy had been expelled just a few weeks before graduation, after getting into a fistfight with another student after the student had insulted his girlfriend. Sandy's father had told administrators not to tell Sandy of the expulsion until his family arrived to pick him up, but Sandy was told. An official locked him in his dorm room, and the distraught boy either jumped or fell from his third floor dorm.

Former MMA President Col. Roy F. "Rick" Zinser Jr., the alumni association, the academy foundation, the school's board of trustees and a handful of other individuals are also named in the wrongful death suit.

Before he was expelled, Sandy was a homecoming king, active athlete, and model student was an aspiring Navy SEAL - and his parents were sure that he would have been emotionally traumatized by the news of his expulsion. The parents were offered a diploma in the wake of their son's death, along with an allegedly insensitive condolence letter.  

The family is suing for $25.35 million.

Read More About Parents Sue Virginia Military Academy For Son’s Deadly Fall...

back to top

Quick Contact