BILLINGS - A deck collapse at Briarwood Country Club happened in seconds, victims say, but documents show problems with the deck had been years in the making.
Through a public records request filed with the City of Billings, MTN News obtained a copy of a permit application filed by The Briarwood in June 2021 to remodel and replace its existing deck, but the project was not completed.
The permit application includes an inspection report from a Billings engineering firm that labeled six of the deck beams as deteriorating and in need of replacement, another six beams as deteriorating, and only two of the existing beams as acceptable.
The load limit was examined too and several of the deteriorating beams were at or near their capacity to hold weight.
A City of Billings engineer told MTN that he sent comments to Briarwood asking if and how the deteriorating beams were going to be replaced, but says he never received a response and Briarwood never followed up on seeking a permit for the project. The engineer says Briarwood was not issued a permit for the project.
Court documents also point to disrepair of the structure. A lawsuit was filed Friday against The Briarwood alleging negligence for the collapse, which injured dozens of people.
Among other allegations, the lawsuit states the country club failed to properly maintain the deck structure and made "cosmetic coverups" to areas of the deck that were "deteriorating and unsafe."
The lawsuit was filed in Yellowstone County District Court on behalf of eight named plaintiffs - Shane Bakken, Tracey Bakken, Scott Dana, Katelin Hagenbuch, Jacob Hagenbuch, Chad Ker, Thad Lensing, and Jackson Smith - by the Billings law firm Heenan & Cook.
The lawsuit seeks an unspecified amount of damages on six counts, including negligence, premise liability, negligent misrepresentation, individual board member liability, loss of consortium, and negligent infliction of emotional distress.
Defendants are listed as The Briarwood d/b/a The Black Bunker Bar & Grill and up to 40 as of yet unnamed individuals who are board members, people who provided advice to the club, and others.
The deck collapse happened on the evening of July 22 after a golf tournament at the club that drew up to 300 people to the location just south of Billings. Witnesses said they heard creaking sounds before a section of the 10-foot-high deck suddenly collapsed.
Authorities said as many as 50 people required treatment at two Billings hospitals, including 25 people who were taken to the medical facilities by ambulance.
The lawsuit alleges the deck collapse "occurred due to refusal to reasonably replace, failed maintenance, design flaws, and/or construction flaws."
When the deck collapsed, the lawsuit states, there were deck beams and support structure that "were comprised of and/or contained rotting and decaying lumber." The lawsuit alleges that while the club made cosmetic changes to the deck surface materials, "no efforts were made to repair or replace or address the rotting structural components" of the deck.
"The painting of the rotting structure was an intentional effort by The Briarwood to obscure, conceal, and hide the rotting condition of the deck from the Plaintiffs and from the other patrons and public upon The Briarwood's grounds," the lawsuit states.
The Briarwood has not yet filed a response to the lawsuit.
(Editor Note: A member of the MTN News staff in Billings serves on the board of the Briarwood Country Club. That employee did not have any involvement in the reporting of this lawsuit.)
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