ある（あった） doesn't make much sense in terms of grammar here, I think.
I think it's 遭う in this case. E.g. 事故に遭う。

I would've guessed the same as Tori-kun, but it appears to be an idiom. 英辞郎 is always my first port of call in this kind of situation http://eow.alc.co.jp/search?q=%E9%81%8B … 2%E3%82%8B

Last edited by Javizy (2012 October 27, 2:28 pm)

I think that both can be implied at the same time given that the author decided to leave it in Kana and an ambiguous structure that doesn't make the verb being used obvious.

Well, although that may be true, there are plenty of sentences in Japanese dictionaries that are pulled from actual works. Either way there is a degree of free translation employed regardless. I don't see how any interpretation is all that different in this case. I do think, though, that ある is more likely it because I feel a dictionary would have left it as 遭った if otherwise.