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Swimming Pool Accident Death Leads to Insurance Bill
June 12, 2008

Eleven months after the drowning of their son, the parents of Ethan Cory have seen the moment they have waited for since the day he drowned in a swimming pool accident at a water park in Joplin, Missouri.

Ethan's Law requires the owner of a for-profit privately owned swimming pool or facility to maintain liability insurance of a minimum of $1 million in case of a death or injury in its pool. Further, for every day that an owner of such a pool fails to comply with this provision, he may be fined $100 per day and/or face confinement in prison. Missouri Governor Blunt signed the bill on June 6.

The swimming pool accident that killed Ethan took place on July 17, 2007, when the boy was on a field trip to the Swimmin' Hole water park in Joplin. He was part of a group of children being supervised by the Boys and Girls Club of Joplin. He had enrolled at a summer camp, and the trip to the park was only one of several such outings. There were more than 34 children being supervised by just five adults.

Ethan wasn't a strong swimmer, and his mother Lauren had informed camp counselors about this. That information must have gotten lost because when Ethan was finally pulled out of the water, his body was found at the deep end of the pool. The boy had no business being in that end of the water, and yet he seemed to have been able to slip unsupervised into the depths.

After the swimming pool accident, Lauren said that she had signed a permission slip allowing her son to be allowed only in the shallow depths of the pool. The owners of the park had no liability insurance. Corey's parents sued the owners for wrongful death later in 2007. A bill was introduced in the state legislature the same year by State Rep Marilyn Ruestman, and has now been passed.

What this effectively means is that all private companies who run a swimming pool for profit are expected to carry insurance. The law doesn't help prevent swimming pool accidents. It works in an indirect way to make sure the swimming pools are safe for all who use them. When insurance is required for a water park or other swimming pool owner, the insurance company takes a special interest in the working operations of the pool. Safeguards are installed, and safety precautions are encouraged. This works to help keep the pool safe, making accidents very preventable.

Lauren is working hard to introduce Ethan's Law in other states, and is already making progress with California and Arkansas.

The Reeves Law Group is a law firm with offices throughout California dedicated exclusively to the representation of personal injury victims, including victims of swimming pool accidents. Please visit our website at trlglaw.com. If you desire a free consultation on a personal injury matter, please call us at (800) 644-8000 or email us.

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Parents of Boy Injured in Santa Clara County Swimming Pool Accident File Personal Injury Lawsuit
May 28, 2008

That 14-year-old Jerry Pham, a beginner swimmer whose Milpitas High School records marked him as a "non swimmer", was found lying at the bottom of the pool during a swimming session with 40 other students and a supervisor present, in itself is bad enough. But what happened after Jerry's immobile body was found at the bottom of the pool is even more shocking. His physical education teacher, Kristina Edwards, ordered all students to get out of the pool after Pham was spotted. And then, instead of diving into the pool and rescuing the boy, she called school security. Not 911. She then began to use a rescue pole to pry Jerry off the bottom, and followed this with some more panic stricken behavior. And all the while, Jerry remained at the bottom of the pool. When security finally arrived, some of the students had already dived into the bottom of the 12 foot pool and fished Jerry out. The boy was blue and had blood and water gushing out of his mouth and nose. The boy survived his horrific swimming pool accident, but his parents say he has severe brain damage.

His parents have now filed a personal injury lawsuit against the school and Kristina Edwards in the swimming pool accident. They allege that the school was unprepared for swimming pool accident emergencies of the kind that befell Jerry, and claim that Edwards herself did not posses the skills or training to handle a class of 40 children at a swimming pool. She did not know how to perform emergency resuscitation, and she had no idea what to do when a student was spotted under water. In short, she had no business being in any position of authority and supervising students in this dangerous situation. There was also no emergency medical equipment available in the pool area, the lawsuit claims.

The swimming pool accident lawsuit, which claims damages to the tune of $10 million, also claims that Jerry has suffered severe brain injuries as a result of his near drowning.

In the days since the swimming pool accident, Milpitas High School has cleaned up its act. Physical education teachers are now required to hold certification in CPR training and first aid. A minimum of four teacher's assistants are now required to supervise a batch of students at the pool, and all are required to have lifeguard certification in place. Further, non-swimmers will be assigned buddies and will not be allowed near the deep end of the pool.

It seems like all these well intentioned measures have come too late. Why does a boy have to nearly drown in a swimming pool accident for any action to be taken? It also seems as if basic common sense was sacrificed by the school administration. Isn't it plain common sense that a teacher in charge of 40 students at the pool, some of who are non-swimmers, should have some sort of emergency rescue training if no lifeguard is present? Why would a non-swimmer be allowed anywhere near the deep end of the pool, and unsupervised at that?

This young boy will bear the effects of his near death experience for the rest of his life. A positive settlement will at least help his family provide the special kind of attention that he will need.

If you have been injured in a swimming pool accident, you need the help of an experienced California personal injury lawyer. Contact an attorney at The Reeves Law Group for a free consultation.

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Swimming Pool Accident Victim's Parents File Lawsuit Against Hotel
May 06, 2008

The family of a 5-year-old boy, who drowned in a swimming pool accident at a hotel in Omaha, is suing the hotel management for the wrongful death of their son.

Brian Guevara drowned in the murky black waters of the pool at the Howard Johnson hotel on June 19, 2006. The family had checked in, planning to spend half the day at the zoo and half at the hotel's swimming pool. The surveillance camera at the hotel, which the plaintiff's lawyers plan to use as an important piece of evidence of the swimming pool accident, shows Brian swimming in the pool, and then disappearing. From the surveillance video, in the few minutes that it took for him to slip beneath the surface and the moment his body was dragged out of the pool, you couldn't even see Brains' body lying at the bottom. The water was that dirty. There were others swimming in the pool with Brian who did not notice the swimming pool accident or even see the boy at the bottom of the pool. The lawsuit alleges that had visibility been clearer, Brian would have gotten the help he needed faster and could have survived.

The hotel had been accused of such negligent behavior several years ago in an eerily similar swimming pool accident, which occurred in the same pool, where again one person drowned. The plaintiff's attorney can be expected to bring up that point. After Brian's death, an inspector ordered the pool closed until several defects, which could cause swimming pool accidents, were fixed. These include reinstalling a safety device that had become faulty and cleaning the murky water. Also, a filtering device that is supposed to clean the water was also asked to be repaired. The inspection report also ordered for a pool operator to be on hand when the pool was in use.

For the parents of Brian Guevara, the safety measures have come too late. There is simply no excuse for a pool to be as dirty as it was on the day of the swimming pool accident. The fact that bystanders standing at the pool's edge and swimmers inside the pool couldn't see Brian's body lying at the bottom could tell you of how bad the water was. There seems to have been appalling neglect on the part of the hotel management, which has so far refused to comment on the lawsuit. Brian's parents wasted valuable time looking all over the hotel for their son when they couldn't find him around the pool. With cleaner water in the pool, it is highly likely that someone would have spotted the little boy at the bottom of the pool as soon as he began to drown.

We hope this swimming pool accident raises the bar for safety standards to prevent more accidents. We also hope Brian's family can win the compensation for their suffering.

If you have been injured in a swimming pool accident, you need the help of an experienced California personal injury lawyer. Contact an attorney at The Reeves Law Group for a free consultation.

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Family Files Lawsuit Against Pool Company
January 30, 2008

The only flaw you could find in Brian and Karen Cohn's lawsuit, filed against Shoreline Pools, is the paltry amount - $15,000. The family's tragedy, which occurred on July 26th last year, calls for a greater amount to be claimed in compensation.

First, a flashback of events. On this fateful day, the Cohn's 6-year-old son, Zachary, was swimming in the family pool, when his arm got stuck in an intake valve at the deep end of the pool. His father, who noticed his son struggling to pry his hand loose, jumped right in to save him. Brian struggled valiantly to pull Zachary's hand, but the powerful suction of the valve proved too much to overcome. Karen raced back into the house, turned off the house's power supply, which managed to shut down the power and only then could Zachary's hand be freed. But by then, it was too late. His father performed CPR, but Zachary was dead at age 6.

Through their grief, the Cohns have found a way to shed more light on the negligent safety standards adopted by the pool company, which is one of the defendants in the lawsuit. The Cohns insist that the company has a history of violating building codes. The other defendant is the town of Greenwich, which, the couple alleges, failed to conduct a proper inspection before issuing the permit. The Cohn's pool, they claim, had a total of seven serious code violations. One of them, it is now obvious, had a role to play in the child's death.

To lose a child is hard enough by itself, but to lose one to the sheer negligence or incompetence by another is almost too much to bear. According to USA Today, The Cohns say they aren't interested in the monetary compensation, which explains the $15,000 amount. To honor the memory of their son, they want to focus attention on swimming pool safety, and bring about changes in safety laws.

As their statement says, "We hope that ... other families will be spared the horrible tragedy we have suffered. "

If you have a loved-one who was killed in a swimming pool accident, contact an experienced California personal injury lawyer at The Reeves Law Group for a free consultation.

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California Boys Prevent a Pool Tragedy
September 06, 2007

It was a miraculous escape for 2-year-old William Grimes. The toddler was at his grandparents' house over the Labor Day weekend, with his mother and two elder brothers for a family barbeque. His mother, Gina Teachman, asked someone to remove his floaties for a while so he could snack. In the few minutes that it took for someone to find his floaties to put them back on him, the boy slipped into the shallow end of the pool. His 10-year-old brother Gunnar found him a few minutes later sprawled at the bottom of the pool. According to the Huntington Beach Fire Department, Gunnar dove in and pulled the little boy to safety. His friend Corey then performed CPR, a procedure he'd seen on television, and was able to resuscitate the boy. William was dazed and lethargic when he came to, but after tests at Huntington Beach Hospital and Children's Hospital Orange County, the boy has been given a clean bill of health with no fears of lasting damage.

This story has a happy ending. William is fine and his family is relieved to have him back safe and sound. Every year however, close to 300 children under the age of five die in swimming pool related accidents in the sun-worshipping parts of the country. In fact in children of this age group drowning is the second most common cause of death, second only to auto accidents. Not surprisingly California leads the way in the death rates for children in swimming pool related accidents.

Whether the pool is part of a home, resort or a community facility, the responsibility of the safety of those using it rests with the owners of the pool. In California, law demands that private pools be properly fenced to help prevent tragedy. Owners of an unfenced pool that causes injuries or death to a child can be held liable for damages. In cases of swimming pool deaths however, early investigations are of the utmost importance to ascertain liability.

If your child has been injured in a swimming pool accident due to negligence of a pool owner, you need quality legal assistance to prepare your case. Talk to the personal injury lawyers at The Reeves Law Group and get a free consultation on your case.

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