A UC Berkeley alumna has filed a complaint against the UC Regents, alleging that inadequate instruction and staffing during a sailing class at the UC Aquatic Center led to shoulder and leg injuries in September 2024.
Zhe Fu filed the complaint for negligence and personal injury Sept. 28, two years after she was injured during a sailing class organized by UC Berkeley Recreation & Wellbeing.
Fu had no prior sailing experience and received no safety training or instructions before entering the boat, according to her attorney Jeremy Pollack. He claimed Fu waited for an hour before being assigned to a boat and that the process of assigning students to instructors and boats was “chaotic and unorganized.”
“There was no training or guidance given to the students before they were assigned to the boat and then no further instructions once they were on the boat,” Pollack alleged.
According to Pollack, the instructor struggled to dock the boat in the rough waters. During an initial docking attempt, the instructor asked Fu to jump onto another boat, but Fu declined because she felt unsafe. On a second attempt, the instructor brought the boat closer to the dock and told Fu to jump.
Fu allegedly jumped, slipped and fell on the dock, injuring her shoulder and legs. Pollack claimed no staff was on the dock to assist Fu and that no medical personnel were on site. Fu was eventually told to call her friend, who helped her make it to the emergency department.
Carter Zinn, another attorney representing Fu and owner of The Zinn Law Firm, said the instructor should have taken the weather conditions into consideration. Zinn, who said he has sailing experience, added that beginners should not have been taken onto the water if conditions were unsafe.
“If they felt it was too windy or wavy to safely take beginning people sailing, they should have maybe done something on land,” Zinn said.
Zinn Law sent a demand letter seeking settlement discussions to a risk adjuster representing the UC Regents before they filed the complaint, Zinn said.
“We asked to discuss settlement and were told we should just go ahead and file a complaint,” Zinn said.
UC Berkeley spokesperson Janet Gilmore said campus has not been formally served with the complaint and will address the matter through the legal process.
Fu is seeking more than $35,000 in compensation for her injury. Her attorneys declined to disclose details about her current physical condition, though Pollack said the injury had “significant impact” on her life.