“…Mr. Williams’ widow… sued the club and its owner, Daniel Griffin, along with Elmhurst Corp., the hotel owner, claiming her husband became trapped in the suction of the pool drain…”
The settlement is confidential and lawyers would not discuss it, although court filings indicate that Mr. Williams’ daughter in Buffalo, N.Y., received $264,000, which represents part of the settlement.
A wrongful death suit against a Downtown hotel and a defunct athletic club involving the drowning of a Penn Hills man in 2009 has been settled for an undisclosed amount. Lorenzo Williams, 38, drowned on April 11, 2009, in the pool at the former Downtown Athletic Club adjacent to the Doubletree City Center.
Ms. Williams said Mr. Griffin, who rented the space for the club from the hotel, was negligent in not making sure the pool was safe by installing a drain cover as required by federal law.
The club closed in May 2009 after its lease expired.
The crux of the case was the Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act, a federal law passed in 2007 requiring all pools and spas to have special drain covers to keep children from getting trapped.
The law was created after Virginia Baker, the 8-year-old granddaughter of former Secretary of State James Baker III, drowned in 2002 after being trapped by a hot tub drain.
Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/12007/1202018-53.stm#ixzz1imyIW57P
