The Haggard Law Firm’s Michael Haggard and Kimberly Wald have secured a $1 Million pre-suit, policy limit settlement in a near-drowning entrapment case.
On September 3, 2021, five-year-old Bo Madden was with her family friend’s home in Destin, Florida where they went swimming in the pool at the house. While in the pool, Bo’s hair was entangled on the entrapment cover and she was sucked underwater. Bo was unable to untangle her hair and was trapped, drowning, and dying.
Bo’s mother, Mrs. Madden, pulled Bo from the pool. The child was dark blue and unresponsive. Mrs. Madden, who is a CRNA, believed that her child had died and immediately began emergency CPR. Thankfully, Mrs. Madden was able to revive Bo to the point that she had a weak pulse, but blood was coming out of her nose and she had vomited water and blood on the pool deck. Bo was extremely agitated, incoherent, and was thrashing violently. Emergency services arrived and Bo was rushed to the emergency room of Sacred Heart Emerald Coast Hospital by ambulance. She was placed on a nonrebreather ventilation machine in the ambulance and would spend the next 19 days in the hospital, fighting for her life, with her tormented family at her side..
(The Defendant) Tamtech’s design, construction, maintenance, and building of the pool were the direct result of Bo’s drowning and subsequent catastrophic injuries. Tamtech did not install the correct anti-entrapment outlet covers required by law to be on the suction ports for this section of the pool. The two suction ports Tamtech installed failed to comply with the pertinent standards, including explicit warnings from the manufacturer and the ANSI / APSP standards on anti-entrapment. Per the manufacturer of the cross-hatch inlet cover that Tamtech used, the cross-hatch inlet cover “must never be used” as an outlet cover. Using a cross-hatch inlet cover on a suction outlet port is essentially setting an entanglement trap for swimmers, which is tragically exactly what happened to Bo.
The Haggard Law Firm has represented victims of near drownings and the families of drowning victims for more than three decades. While we have represented families in cases dealing with various safety lapses, the issue of ill-maintained pool gates and fences are a particular concern to us, because so many children drown in Florida every year.
The Haggard Law Firm has developed a national and international niche representing people injured or killed as a result of dangerous swimming pool drains and negligent supervision and maintenance of pool safety barriers.
Our attorneys also strive for tightened safety rules for pools in homes, apartments and hotels. For many years the Haggard Law Firm worked with representatives in the US Congress and Senate to spur changes in state codes and governing pool and pool pump safety. We were beyond thrilled when the Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act of 2007 was signed into law. Debbie Wasserman Schultz sponsored the bill and is a champion of his safety laws. We are honored to have worked with her in the State Senate and U.S. Congress to finally have this bill signed into law. The bill was named for Virginia Graeme Baker, the seven-year-old granddaughter a former Secretary of State James Baker III who drowned in 2002 when pulled underwater by a hot tub drain. The Haggard Law Firm represented the Baker family and achieved a confidential settlement. LEARN MORE ABOUT THE HAGGARD LAW FIRM’S DROWNING CASES
