Boston Accident Lawyer Blog

In my previous post on this subject, I discussed why backyard swimming pools are generally a very strong liability risk. This type of liability broadly falls under an area of law known as "premises liability”. Legally, property owners in Massachusetts have an obligation to provide a safe environment for visitors and guests. In the event of a pool accident, an experienced Massachusetts premises liability attorney should be consulted. Under no circumstances should anyone who has been injured in such an accident, speak to an insurance representative or any other person, until they have spoken first to an experienced Massachusetts premises liability attorney. Swimming pool injuries and deaths involve complex medical and legal issues. When young children are injured, these injuries frequently involve neurological and cognitive impairment that is not always immediately apparent. Hence, the legal response to such an injury requires considerable legal experience in this area of practice.

In terms of geographical incidence of swimming pool injuries, studies indicate that (logically,) children in northern and northeastern states are involved in a higher percentage of these accidents than occur in warmer states such as Florida and California, owing to greater inexperience around swimming pools in the winter states. Anyone who buys a home with a swimming pool, or puts one in their backyard and thinks there is nothing more they need to do but ‘clean out the bugs’, is making a serious legal mistake. Proper swimming pool safety requires that several measures be taken:

• The area around the pool should be secured from curious children or intruders (usually by a view-obstructing high fence)
• Supervision appropriate to the ages of the persons using the pool should be present (as was apparently not the case in the Connecticut case in my previous post)
• The water should be regularly maintained for cleanliness and proper chemical balances.
• If a diving board is present, measures need to be taken to keep users from endangering one another.
• Signs pointing out particular hazards or warnings should also be openly and clearly displayed.

The types of injuries suffered in swimming pool accidents usually group as follows:

• Fractures resulting from improper diving or falling on hard, wet surfaces around the pool
• Head and brain injuries or spinal cord damage resulting from collisions in the pool or unsafe diving conditions
• Infection or illness caused by unsafe levels of bacteria in the water
• Toxic reaction to excessive use of chemicals
• Brain damage resulting from lack of oxygen in near drowning accidents, particularly those involving children
• Death by drowning

Rule One for homeowners with a swimming pool: Make sure that your homeowners’ insurance policy provides coverage for liability claims arising from the use or maintenance of your pool. Generally, I would not advise anyone with a swimming pool at their home to carry anything less than a bare minimum of $1.5 million in coverage. Many homeowners’ policies require a separate umbrella to provide this type of coverage; check with your insurance agent to make sure that you are adequately insured. Aside from individual homeowners, potential defendants in a swimming pool accident case commonly include a condominium association, an apartment building owner, a day camp or summer camp operator, a school district or university, or a hotel/motel resort. In some cases, where negligent installation or repair of a pool played a role in the accident, the manufacturer or installer of the pool might be liable as well. Aware of the dangers associated with swimming pools, the U. S. Consumer Product Safety Commission is conducting a national Pool Safety Campaign. Click on these links to learn more.

In the mean time, if you or someone you know has been injured in a swimming pool accident, contact our office for a free consultation. We are experienced with this type of litigation, and can provide you with the expert legal guidance you will need.

In sum, I’d say this to any owner or operator of a swimming pool, whether residential or commercial: Stay cool this summer. But when it comes to legal measures, be cool in protecting your legal interests. Or things could get very hot.

Summer is usually a time when thoughts turn to cooling off and leisurely days around a swimming pool (especially during heat waves such as we’ve had recently here in Massachusetts.) That makes perfect sense, but in my view as a Boston accident lawyer, not enough people are aware of the dangers of backyard swimming pools – whether in-ground or above-ground. In my career, some of the worst injuries I have seen involve swimming pool injuries. While having a swimming pool at your house can sometimes add to a home’s market value, legally, it can pose serious, and even deadly, hazards.

This was recently made clear in a suit filed in neighboring Connecticut, which resulted in a settlement of $1.1 million to the family of a 3 year-old boy who drowned in a swimming pool. Actually, this case illustrates two important points: 1) The risks that are associated with swimming pools (this falls under “premises liability”); and in this case: 2) The risk that can arise when parents represent to third parties that their son or daughter is capable of caring for another person’s child by babysitting, when in fact they know that their child has no particular skills to do so (this is known as “negligent entrustment.”) This particular case out of Cheshire, Connecticut, involved the death of a 3 year-old boy, Cole Veenhuis, who drowned May 2 2009 in his family’s swimming pool while being baby sat by Krista Repko, a teenager that had been hired by the boy’s parents to baby sit him and his twin sister.

Apparently, after the boy fell into the family pool, the teenage bay sitter “Froze up for a significant period of time and didn’t immediately jump into the pool to rescue the youngster”, according to the attorney for the parents of the deceased boy. As a result, the boy drowned when it appeared that he could have been saved with a quick response. The deceased boy’s mother, Diane Veenhuis, told the New Haven Register in a statement that her son’s death “Was definitely preventable and morally should have been foreseeable by the individuals we entrusted.” Diane and Richard Veenhuis alleged in their suit that the baby sitter’s mother, Michelle Repko, misrepresented her daughter’s abilities as a baby sitter to them, assuring them that her daughter could react responsibly to almost any emergency. “It wasn’t until after the tragedy when information was disclosed, which had we known, we would not have chosen her for a baby sitter,” Diane Veenhuis said.

Following an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the drowning, the police and the Connecticut state attorney’s office chose not to bring charges.

The Veenhuis family plans to put the settlement money in a trust for their daughter to be used in part to help Hannah deal with the pain associated with the loss of her brother, as well as to establish a memorial fund in Cole’s name. “Life doesn’t last forever, but our love for Cole will,” Diane Veenhuis said. “Our hearts are forever broken.”

A case like this illustrates the need to be aware of the dangers that swimming pools represent. In a great many of these types of cases, the injuries and drowning deaths that occur are sustained by children. This is so for a variety of reasons:

• The water is blue and attractive; (in legal parlance, a swimming pool is known as an “attractive nuisance”);

• It is difficult to know exactly how deep a given area of the pool is because unlike in commercial settings (such as hotels) and with municipal pool settings, there is almost ever any signage at the edge of the pool indicating pool depths at particular points along the pool; This increases the odds that neck and back injuries will result when someone jumps into a too-shallow area of a pool. Paralysis injuries are not uncommon.

• The pool is almost always surrounded by concrete or flagstone-type walking surfaces, which are slippery when wet and can cause severe injuries in the form of broken bones and concussions that can result in brain damage.

• Often, there is a diving board present, which can result in traumatic injuries when falling the ‘wrong way’.

In my next post on this topic, I’ll discuss the type of injuries that are common to this type of event, and what legal measures should be taken to minimize them.