Tragic Swimming Pool Injury Case: Wrongful death caused by pool drain
We have previously written about the dangers posed to children from pool drains. In this post we note that according to Minnesota Public Radio, a Minneapolis Golf Club has reached an $8 million settlement with the family of Abigail Taylor, a 6-year-old girl who was fatally injured by a swimming pool drain. Taylor died of injuries she suffered in 2007 when she sat on the drain of the club’s wading pool. The powerful suction ripped out part of her intestinal tract. She died in March at after undergoing triple organ transplant surgery shortly before Christmas. The settlement exceeded the $6 million limit on the club’s insurance, so the members had to vote to get a $2 million bank loan to pay the difference. A majority of members approved the deal when the ballots were counted.
After Abigail died, her family was instrumental in persuading the state Legislature and the U.S. Congress to pass new pool safety laws that require entrapment-proof drain covers for new public pools. The state law also requires daily physical inspections of drain covers and forces operators of pools that lack redundant suction outlets to put them in. Only single-family residential pools are exempt. While we send our condolences to the Taylor family, it is important to note that their actions despite their loss will lead to the prevention of future deaths and horrific injuries. At Abrams Landau, Ltd. we have been fortunate enough to have clients who have thought and acted to protect others from being harmed in the same way that they were injured.