What Should I Do After a Swimming Pool Drowning Accident?

A swimming pool drowning accident can happen in a split second. In this video, attorney Paul Cornoni discusses some of the devastating drowning accident cases he’s handled in the past. Although parents do not usually think to speak to a lawyer after such a tragedy, they should to get answers as to why the incident occurred, and what can be done to prevent it from happening to another child in the future.
I’ve worked on a number of drowning cases since I’ve been here. Sadly, I think I’ve worked on a drowning case almost every summer. They just come out, and people aren’t as educated as they should be. These cases are generally brought against property management companies or owners of apartment complexes or community centers. A few things typically happen that lead to unfortunate drownings. Typically, there’s not enough lifeguards that have been hired. There has to be one lifeguard for every six to seven kids in the pool. Oftentimes, owners of property or property management companies don’t hire enough. They don’t train the lifeguards as well as they should be trained. And they also don’t clean the pool. And what I mean by that is, if you don’t, if you’re not treating the pool water every day, the water gets cloudy. And that leads directly to, unfortunately, a child being at the bottom of the pool. And a lifeguard not seeing it. So, they’re very sad cases. I see them all the time.

They’re difficult in the sense that it’s such a hard loss for the parents. Parents don’t realize right away that they have a legal case. Any normal person wouldn’t think about a legal case right when this happens. And they just blame themselves. What they really need to know is once they talk to a lawyer that specializes in drowning cases, is that they are not to blame at all. This is, well, this is what a lifeguard is there to do. And they need to know that they do have a case. And what we do is obviously try to help them put their life back together by getting them a settlement. But more often, trying to make sure that these things don’t happen again. Making sure that the pool where it occurred has adopted new standards and procedures, to make sure this never happens again. Or, it closes until things have been changed. For more information, go to ReganFirm.com or call (202) 463-3030.