In a recent four-week trial in Osceola County, Florida, Fort Lauderdale West Partners Sanaz Alempour and Courtney Kaiser secured for their clients a highly favorable verdict in a tragic wrongful death case in Osceola County. The matter arose from the heartbreaking loss of a four-year-old child who drowned in the swimming pool of a newly built single-family vacation rental home near Orlando’s famed theme parks.
The case presented complex and emotional issues, as the family’s estate on behalf of the child’s surviving parents, brought negligence claims against a number of parties involved in the construction and sale of the property, including the developer, general contractor, subcontractors, pool contractor, pool barrier installer, and the private inspection company. Cole, Scott & Kissane defended the estate’s negligence claims against the private provider inspection company, who performed inspections of the home and pool during construction in lieu of the Osceola County Building Department. Construction was complete and a certificate of occupancy for the home was issued approximately ten months before the drowning. The estate also asserted claims against the homeowner and the rental company but those claims were resolved prior to formal proceedings.
The Plaintiffs sought substantial damages, arguing that various parties were negligent in the design, construction, and inspection of the pool’s safety features, particularly focusing on whether the barrier system met state and local requirements.
At the time of the incident, the home, a property within a large resort-style community catering to over 1000 short-term rentals, was occupied by a group of 13 mothers and 9 children, all under the age of 13, visiting from New York. Notably, only one of the 22 guests knew how to swim. The pool safety system constructed at the home included a patio screen enclosure that surrounded three sides of the pool and affixed to the two-story home as well as a removable mesh safety barrier. The removable mesh safety barrier ran across the span of the covered patio and was affixed on each end with spring-latch and eye hook that could be unlatched to provide access to the pool.
Despite the availability of a removable mesh pool safety barrier, the guests never secured the barrier during their stay and reported having little to no experience or information regarding its use.
Throughout the proceedings, our team navigated significant legal challenges. At the start of trial, the estate obtained a ruling from the court interpreting whether Florida’s Residential Swimming Pool Safety Act required removable mesh safety barriers to include self-closing and self-latching access gates. The court determined and instructed the jury that a self-closing and self-latching access gate was required when any section of the removable mesh safety barrier was taken down. Additionally, the court excluded evidence of Declaratory Statements issued by the Florida Building Commission after adoption of the Swimming Pool Safety Act, setting forth legal conclusions that access gates were not required as part of the removable mesh safety barriers.
Notably, the estate declined significant global settlement offers extended during trial and asked the jury for a $30,000,000 award.
After careful deliberation, the jury returned a verdict in favor of the estate finding liability on as to each defendant and awarding the surviving parents a total award of in the amount of $250,000, with an important finding of 60% comparative negligence on part of the surviving mother. The jury apportioned a limited share of liability (8%) to the private provider inspection company, 13% on part of the general contractor, 14% against the swimming pool contractor and its safety fence subcontractor, and 5% against non-party defendants.
The successful defense was made possible through the collaboration and dedication of the entire team, including Legal Assistant/Paralegal Toni Ortiz, Paralegal Marybeth Stone-Kassner, and Law Clerk Mikayla Mathews.
We extend our deepest sympathies to the family and thank everyone involved for their professionalism and respect throughout this difficult process.
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