The White Mile Trial

Eleven advertising executives from some of the largest corporations in the United States boarded a raft for a day of river running in British Columbia. Less than three hours after they pushed off from shore, five of them would be dead. No one knows exactly what happened that day, but the bow of the raft caught an errant current, turned abruptly, and then unexpectedly careened into a rock mid-stream. All but one of the men were dumped into the tortured currents. Six of the swimmers made it to shore and survived. The other five were swept to their death in the frigid waters. Following the tragedy was a dramatic two-week trial, where the stories of survivors and the opinions of the experts were both riveting and inconsistent. The jury awarded the plaintiff a million dollars, a fraction of what she had requested, but to many it was an extravagant amount for a lawsuit involving an experienced guide with a perfect safety record who had obtained releases of liability before the trip.