It’s estimated that close to 15,000 children under the age of 15 are injured in a pool or spa each year, necessitating a visit to the emergency room. A 7-year-old boy from Encino became the most recent victim of this when he lost his life after his arm got stuck in a suction entrapment event in a rental.
Encino Boy Dies In Spa Incident
The boy, Thomas Catog Rozmiarek was died a few hours later in hospital after his family succeeded in getting him out of the spa drain. The parents, in shock and disbelief that the suction power of the backyard spa was so great that it caused entrapment, decided to file a wrongful death lawsuit. Other individuals named as plaintiff in the lawsuit were the boy’s brother, twin sister, grandmother and mother’s cousin.
Lawsuit Filed
The lawsuit alleges that the backyard pump, made by Pentair, lacked a safety vacuum release system which usually comes equipped with the unit. Plaintiffs to the lawsuit claim that this makes the makers of the pump liable by way of a product liability lawsuit. A missing part in the pump meant that the product in its entirety was defective, making their claim valid.
The family of the deceased also filed a negligence lawsuit naming the premises owner, Brian G. Duffy as defendant given the fact that he failed to install an adequate cover on the spa drain. Usually, new spas have two drains which minimize chances of a person getting sucked into them. The Interfillo pump installed into the spa had a suction power of 3hp which, for a spa, creates a great deal of suction.
Pool Incidents Are Not New
These kinds of cases are not new; in fact, Consumer Product Safety Commission began investigating cases of suction pump entrapment as early as the seventies. In 2008, congress passed a bill into law called the Graeme Baker Pool Safety Act, named after a child who got trapped under water and drowned due to the strong suction force of a hot tub drain.
If your loved one drowned or was injured in a pool incident in Indiana, please get in touch with us on 877-561-3004 and we’ll go about filing a lawsuit on your behalf to collect money damages. Thanks for choosing us.