A jury has awarded the parents of Yoni Gottesman $16.3 million for his Southern California wrongful death. $14 million is for compensatory damages and $2.3 million is for punitive damages. The 4-year-old drowned in 2005 in a pool at the Cathedral Oaks Athletic Club in Santa Barbara.
Anat and Oded Gottesman sued the club, club owner Cal-West, and 10 other defendants for the young boy's California wrongful death, which took place on the first day of a children's camp. One day before the trial was set to start, 10 of the defendants admitted negligence. The Gottesmans' wrongful death lawyers also proved that Cathedral Oaks was additionally negligent for failing to possess the proper license to run a children's camp.
During the California wrongful death trial, a witness for the plaintiffs testified that the boy could have been saved even eight minute after he drowned if counselors at the club hadn't improperly administered CPR to him. Meantime, a defense witness provided opposing testimony claiming that Yoni would have already been brain dead by the time counselors attempted to revive him.
However, surveillance footage shows camp counselors throwing and dunking Yoni into the water. There is also footage of the boy's body floating in the water for a number of minutes while camp counselors and a lifeguard can be seen at the side of the pool. Yoni was 41-inches tall, which is one inch shorter than the depth of water that filled the shallowest end of the pool.
CDC 2005 Drowning Accident Facts:
• There were 3,582 accidental drowning deaths in the US.
• Another 710 fatalities occurred in boating-related accidents.
• Over 1 in four deadly drowning victims are children younger than 15.
• A person who survives a drowning may sustain a permanent traumatic brain injury.
• Drowning was the cause of nearly 30% of all fatalities involving kids 1 to 4 years of age.
If your son or daughter drowned in another person's pool because the pool owner or manager or workers charged with supervising the pool were negligent or careless, your child may be entitled to Orange County, California personal injury or wrongful death recovery.
Gottesmans Awarded $2.3 Million More in Son's Drowning, Noozhawk, April 30, 2009
Santa Barbara jury returns $14 million verdict-drowning death lawsuit, JusticeNewsFlash.com, April 29, 2009
Gottesmans Awarded $14 Million, Santa Barbara Independent, April 27, 2009
Related Web Resources:
Drowning, EMedicineHealth
