Actress Sues SM For Ice Collision That Left Her Dependent On Wheelchair

An actress is suing the city of Santa Monica claiming that an accident at a city-owned ice skating rink left her dependent on a wheelchair.

Lisa Stothard, whose credits include "Dumb and Dumber" filed the lawsuit Wednesday in Los Angeles Superior Court.

The actress, who filed the suit along with her husband - "Bloodsport" actor Daniel Bernhardt - claims the ice rink was negligent and seeks unspecified damages. Bernhardt, meanwhile, is suing for loss of consortium, a legal term for sexual intercourse between married people.

In a claim filed prior to the suit, Stothard's damages were reportedly listed at more than $2 million.

A representative of the Santa Monica City Attorney's Office did not immediately reply to a request for comment, according to City News Service.

According to the complaint, Stothard, 51, and the couple's daughter, Bella, went to ICE, a downtown ice skating rink, on Jan. 18 to celebrate another child's birthday. Many of the skaters were children and teens who were "skating at an excessive rate of speed, which was faster than safe," according to the suit.

The plaintiffs allege that city employees saw the risky skating, but did nothing to stop it.

Stothard says she decided to take her daughter and her friends off the ice to make sure they were not hurt. But as they were leaving, a boy who was "skating at a wildly excessive rate of speed slammed into (Stothard), dislocating her right ankle and breaking her leg in multiple places,"

according to the suit.

Stothard "collapsed under her weight and she fell onto the ice," then looked at her right foot and leg and "saw a grotesque sight. Her foot was folded up and out across her leg. (She) was in intense pain and felt sensations of numbness, burning and pins and needles in her leg," according to the complaint, which says

Stothard says she feared her right foot would have to be amputated. Her complaint also alleges workers were slow to render aid.

Her complaint says that X-rays showed her right ankle and leg were broken in three places. In the fall she also suffered a detached tendon.

"Since the operation, (Stothard) has been unable to walk," the suit says. "She currently requires a wheelchair in order to move around her home. (She) is unable to drive or perform her duties as Bella's mother or (Bernhardt's) wife."

The actress also suffers from flashbacks and recurring nightmares, according to her lawsuit.