Bench trial begins in case of boy killed by bear

Lawyers on Monday called on a U.S. District Court judge to award $2 million to the parents of Samuel Ives, who was killed in 2007 by a bear in American Fork Canyon. During the first day of a bench trial in a lawsuit against the U.S. government and the U.S. Forest Service, Allen Young -- an attorney for Ives's parents Kevan Francis and Rebecca Ives -- said that the government had failed to protect the public, and that the 11-year-old boy's death should have been prevented. They said the bear that killed Ives had attacked another camper, who had subsequently warned authorities. And ultimately, they argued, the case was about breached duty and its tragic consequences. "We think this is a fairly straightforward case of negligence," Young said. Defense attorneys countered that the government did not have a duty to warn visitors beyond the signs already posted in the area, and that it was not liable for Ives's death. Young first called to the stand Jake Francom, 30, who was attacked by a bear one day before Ives was killed. Francom said that about four hours after the attack he left American Fork Canyon and called emergency dispatch to report the attack. Later, he said, he learned from a TV news report that Ives had been killed by a bear. He said the bear that killed Ives looked like the one that attacked him...more