A California appeals court has rejected a claim by former KDND 107.9  – The End, Sacramento morning show assistant Matthew Carter that the company owes him legal fees for his defense against charges brought by the family of the woman who died in the “Hold Your Wee For A Wii” contest in January 2007.

A  listener named Jennifer Strange, 28, died of water intoxication hours after taking part in the “Hold Your Wee for a Wii” contest in which KDND promised a Wii video game system for the winner. Contestants were asked to drink as much water as they could without urinating. The contestant able to hold the most water would be named the winner.

After Jennifer Strange’s family sued station owners Entercom Communications and several employees, including Carter, whose role in the incident was limited to handing out water bottles to contestants, Carter  initially asked Entercom’s insurer Vigilant Insurance Co. to defend him. 

However, he then chose to reject that representation and use his own attorney instead. He was dropped from the case, and then his attorney filed an $807,421 bill to Entercom’s insurer. Entercom contended that it owed no more than $1,690 for legal fees incurred before Carter initially agreed to be represented by Vigilant.

 The Third Appellate District panel said that Carter did not have an “absolute right to counsel of his own choosing” under state law, and rejected his contention that he had to get his own counsel because Vigilant has a conflict of interest because it would have to defend him against both homicide charges and punitive damages.

What a mess. And the sad thing is a contestant died because of that stupid and dangerous contest. Photo: Jennifer Strange who died five hours after it was taken.