The only settlement in the Declan Sullivan Notre Dame case was a $42,000 regulatory agreement between the university and the Indiana Occupational Safety and Health Administration in July 2011. The Sullivan family never filed a wrongful death lawsuit and received no financial settlement from Notre Dame, a decision Declan’s father attributed to the university’s public acceptance of responsibility and the family’s desire to channel their response into a memorial fund rather than litigation.1Chicago Tribune. Father of Notre Dame Student Who Died Says Family Never Considered Suing
What the IOSHA Settlement Covered
Indiana’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration opened its inspection on October 28, 2010, the day after Sullivan was killed when the scissor lift he was filming from blew over in a 53 mph wind gust.2OSHA. OSHA Inspection Detail On March 14, 2011, the agency issued six serious safety violations against Notre Dame under the General Duty Clause of the Occupational Safety and Health Act, with an original penalty of $77,500. One of the citations was initially classified as a “knowing violation.”3SB Nation. Declan Sullivan Settlement Notre Dame
Notre Dame contested portions of the findings, and the two sides reached a settlement on July 1, 2011. The “knowing violation” was downgraded to a “serious violation,” and the total fine was lowered to $42,000. The agreement also required the university to make a substantial contribution to the Declan Drumm Sullivan Memorial Fund within 90 days and to develop a nationwide education program about the hazards of operating scissor lifts outdoors.4Indiana Department of Labor. Settlement Agreement
This was a regulatory penalty paid to the state, not compensation to the Sullivan family. No civil settlement between Notre Dame and the Sullivans exists, because no lawsuit was ever filed.1Chicago Tribune. Father of Notre Dame Student Who Died Says Family Never Considered Suing
Why the Sullivan Family Chose Not to Sue
A Forbes analysis published shortly after the accident estimated that compensatory damages alone could have reached $15 to $20 million, with total exposure approaching $30 million once punitive damages available under Indiana law were factored in.5Forbes. Declan Sullivan’s Death Could Cost Notre Dame $30 Million The family walked away from all of it.
Barry Sullivan, Declan’s father, told the Chicago Tribune the family never seriously weighed a lawsuit. “It was not our first impulse to go out and hire a lawyer. That’s not the way we’re wired,” he said. He added that the Sullivans “didn’t want to take resources and energy away from other positive things that might happen by tying up people with lawsuits.”1Chicago Tribune. Father of Notre Dame Student Who Died Says Family Never Considered Suing
Two other factors shaped that decision. The family worried that litigation would interfere with Notre Dame’s own internal investigation into what happened. And they were moved by a letter from university President Rev. John Jenkins to the Notre Dame community, in which Jenkins wrote: “Declan Sullivan was entrusted to our care, and we failed to keep him safe. We at Notre Dame and ultimately I, as President are responsible.”6CBS News Chicago. ND President Says School Is Responsible for Death Barry Sullivan said that admission set a tone that made legal confrontation feel unnecessary.1Chicago Tribune. Father of Notre Dame Student Who Died Says Family Never Considered Suing
What Happened Instead: The Memorial Fund
The Sullivans directed unsolicited donations they received after Declan’s death into the Declan Drumm Sullivan Memorial Fund.7ABC 7 Chicago. Declan Sullivan Memorial Fund Helps Low-Income Students Attend College The primary beneficiary is Horizons for Youth, a Chicago nonprofit that provides scholarships, tutoring, and mentoring for low-income students. Barry Sullivan eventually left his career to join the organization as Head of Development.8Varcity Apparel. Custom Jerseys on Declan’s Favorite Notre Dame
The fund’s annual event, No Ordinary Evening, launched in 2012. One edition raised more than $720,000 and drew over 750 attendees.8Varcity Apparel. Custom Jerseys on Declan’s Favorite Notre Dame An initiative called “Declan’s 75” expanded the Horizons for Youth cohort by 75 students. The organization reports that 99% of its students graduate from high school and roughly 84% go on to earn college degrees.7ABC 7 Chicago. Declan Sullivan Memorial Fund Helps Low-Income Students Attend College
Notre Dame separately established the Declan Drumm Sullivan Memorial Scholarship in October 2011 for students with financial need who share Declan’s interests in filmmaking, creative writing, and service to underprivileged youth. The university also dedicated an on-campus memorial near the Guglielmino Athletics Complex and the LaBar practice fields.9University of Notre Dame News. Notre Dame Establishes Declan Drumm Sullivan Scholarship
In 2019, ESPN’s E:60 program released a documentary, “Declan: My Time on Earth,” focused on how the Sullivan family processed their grief, their decision to forgo litigation, and the growth of the memorial fund.10Chicago Tribune. Documentary, Fund Memorialize Late Notre Dame Student Football Videographer Declan Sullivan
The Accident Behind the Case
Declan Sullivan was a 20-year-old junior at Notre Dame working on the football video crew. On the afternoon of October 27, 2010, he was atop a Marklift MT40G scissor lift extended to its full height of 40 feet at the LaBar Practice Complex in South Bend when a wind gust measured at 53 mph struck the field at about 4:54 p.m. and toppled the lift. He was pronounced dead at Memorial Hospital in South Bend.11Notre Dame Fighting Irish. Notre Dame Student Dies in Accident on Football Practice Field12University of Notre Dame. Notre Dame Investigation Report
Notre Dame’s video staff had been operating under an informal, unwritten policy of grounding lifts at 35 mph. They were relying on a 1:54 p.m. National Weather Service reading showing 23 mph winds with 29 mph gusts, and never saw the 2:54 p.m. update showing 29 mph winds with gusts up to 38 mph, already above the program’s own threshold.13PennLive. Notre Dame Football Program Used Outdated Weather Reports Manufacturer guidelines and OSHA standards generally limit outdoor scissor lift use to winds below 28 mph, well beneath even Notre Dame’s informal cap.14OSHA. Scissor Lifts Safety Guide
Notre Dame’s own six-month internal investigation, released April 18, 2011, concluded that “no one acted in disregard for safety” and that staff had acted on the “best information available at the time.”15NBC Chicago. Notre Dame to Release Internal Investigation Into Student’s Death No employee was fired, suspended, reassigned, fined, or disciplined. Jenkins said that because no individual had disregarded safety, there were no grounds for individual discipline, though he accepted collective responsibility as president.16Chicago Tribune. Notre Dame Must Wise Up
Safety Reforms Required and Adopted
Notre Dame adopted eight new safety measures after the investigation. The mandatory wind-speed ceiling for operating scissor lifts was set at 28 mph, real-time weather monitoring was required during any lift operation, and athletic department safety contacts were given authority to override on-field personnel and shut down lift use.17University of Notre Dame News. Notre Dame Investigation Finds Four Primary Factors Led to Declan Sullivan Tragedy The university added pre-operation inspection checklists, new training protocols, and lift inventory procedures, and eventually shifted to remote-controlled cameras for filming practice, removing students from elevated lifts entirely.18Sports Litigation Alert. Notre Dame Spreads Aerial Lift Safety Awareness
To satisfy the settlement’s education requirement, Notre Dame worked with the Indiana Department of Labor to build LiftUpRight.org, a resource site for universities, colleges, and high schools. The program, called UpRight!, covers equipment setup, training, weather monitoring, and safety supervisor designation, and was distributed through the National Federation of State High School Associations, the Collegiate Sports Video Association, the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics, and other groups.19Notre Dame Fighting Irish. Aerial Lift Safety