After man's fatal fall, family sues over Va. town's inaction

Despite failed inspections and warnings, visitor center opened with hazard intact

Warrenton native Harold Spencer walked out of the newly built Warrenton-Fauquier Visitor Center and tripped over a 16-inch wall around a cistern just outside the front door. Spencer, 73, fell awkwardly and broke his neck. Three days later, he died.

Spencer, a stockbroker who raised his five children in Warrenton, was on the board of the foundation that helped build the visitor center, and his family was not inclined to sue his home town. But then one of his sons discovered that the visitor center had failed its final inspection four times for not putting a guardrail around the cistern. They also found that the town had moved into the center without an occupancy permit, records show.

And when the family did sue earlier this year, they uncovered detailed e-mail discussions among town officials about the cistern and its guardrail, but no action was taken to build one.

Last month, Warrenton settled the suit in Fairfax County Circuit Court, and its insurer paid the Spencer family $1.25 million.

"To our mind, it was never about the money," said Spencer's widow, Ellie Spencer. "It was about accountability. It was an unsafe situation, and they didn't do anything about it, and someone got hurt. Badly."

It wasn't until Spencer's son, Hawes Spencer, filed a Freedom of Information Act request with Warrenton that the family discovered the cistern had been a concern for town officials months before Harold Spencer's death in January 2007. Beginning in September 2006, the building repeatedly failed inspection, with officials noting "Need guardrails around cistern."

Warrenton officials pondered what to do but in the meantime moved into the center in fall 2006. "I feel very uncomfortable with the Visitor Center operating," town engineer Christopher Bogert wrote in a November 2006 e-mail to the town's director of public works, "and no handrail around the cistern. Wet/winter weather is coming quickly and if someone slips and falls in the Town will be liable."

Less than two months later, Harold Spencer was fatally injured.

'No legal liability'

The town issued a statement after the Oct. 23 settlement saying "it remains steadfast in its position that it has no legal liability in this matter," and Town Manager Kenneth McLawhon declined to comment. The town's statement noted that the $1.25 million was paid by its insurer, the Virginia Municipal League, and that Warrenton "is not contributing any money to the settlement."

The visitor center is behind the house where Confederate Col. John Singleton Mosby lived on Main Street in downtown Warrenton, about 45 miles west of Washington. The John Singleton Mosby Foundation is renovating the house and agreed to lease the property for the visitor center from the town.

As in many towns, some people wear many hats. David Norden, then president of the Mosby Foundation, volunteered the services of his architectural firm to design the visitor center. Norden is also a town council member and vice mayor.

During construction of the one-story center in 2006, the cistern was discovered and a decision was made to preserve it rather than pave over it. A 16-inch wall was built around it.