$10 million was awarded to the family of a 13-year-old boy who drowned in a municipal pool. At the time of the incident, there were nine lifeguards on duty.

In the summer of 2008, 13-year-old Soo Hyeon Park, his parents, and nine-year-old sister were visiting from Korea and were staying in Ridgewood, N.J. with friends. On July 15, Soo Hyeon’s mother took him, his sister and the two boys from the host family to the town pool.

The children began in the shallow end and later traveled to deeper water. When the 11-year-old child reached the raft, he saw Soo struggling in the deep end and heard him scream, “I can’t breathe in Korean.” The boy tried to swim to Soo and help him, but when he tried to swim to him he had already begun to go under water.

The witness told Soo’s sister, who told her mother. They went to the manager’s office and told him that the boy had just seen someone drown. The manager ordered the lifeguards to search the ground and around the parking lot. 45 minutes later, they found the boys body at the bottom of the pool.

There were two theories of liability presented to the jury: negligent supervision and negligent response. In order to prove negligent supervision, they had to show that the town’s lifeguards were negligent in failing to see a swimmer in distress. To prove negligent response, they proved that they were negligent in conducting a land search rather than searching the pool.

The jury found the town liable for negligent supervision, but didn’t reach the question of whether or not its response was negligent. The jury reached a $10 million verdict that included $4 million for Soo’s conscious pain and suffering, $2 million to each of his parents, $1 million to his sister and $1 million to the family’s loss of guidance, support and services.

Call 800.637.8170 to request your free copy of The Ohio Wrongful Death Book and schedule your free consultation. You need an experienced Ohio wrongful death attorney in order to get the compensation you deserve.