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A Lake County OH Common Pleas Court judge refused last week to dismiss a Wickliffe OH hotel from a $5 million drowning lawsuit. 

Reginald Brown, a 23 year-old from Detroit, died in February 2014 while swimming at a Quality Inn pool in Wickliffe.

His family filed a wrongful death lawsuit in June 2015 against the hotel and its parent company, Columbus-based Choice Hotels International Services Corp.

The lawsuit states that Moore died from insufficient water clarity, which allegedly gave a false appearance of shallow depth.

In July 2015, Choice Hotels attorneys argued that the hotel alone and not the parent company was required to maintain the pool, along with other  hotel property. Choice Hotels also claimed that the deceased’s conduct at least was partially to blame for his death, stating that there are inherent dangers with built-in swimming pools.

Earlier in 2016, the plaintiff voluntarily dropped Choice Hotels from the suit but is continuing to sue against the Quality Inn hotel franchisee.

The suit alleges that the pool surfaces were ‘unreasonably slippery’ due to an overgrowth of algae, and there also were no safety lines with floats near the shallow part of the pool. Last, there was inadequate lighting both above and below the water, the suit claims.

Our View

Each year, almost 4,000 people die in drowning accidents, and thousands more suffer severe brain injuries from near drowning incidents. For families who lose their loved one in a drowning, we understand as Virginia wrongful death attorneys that you are going through unimaginable pain and grief.

At such a difficult time, the major concern for the family should be to pick up the pieces and get through the grieving process. For anyone who is considering legal action in such a difficult situation, we have put together a helpful guide, What to Do If You Lost a Loved One in an Accident. This guide will provide you with the legal options to consider if you lost a loved one in a mishap where another party may be at fault.

 

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