Miami
teenager won a $104 million judgment against a product manufacturer.
The jury found the product to be unsafe.
The teenager suffered brain damage when is arm got stuck in a pool drain.
The drain cover was able to be removed because its screws had rusted
and became loose. The teenager was held under water by the drain
suction for about 10 minutes. He could not remove his arm from the
drain.
Several people attempted, to no avail, to pull the boy free.
The switch in the pump room was finally turned off to free the boy. But, not
in time to prevent brain damage.
Lawyers argued that StaRite could have fixed the defect if it had
installed an emergency shut-off switch.
This
incident is similar to other pool accidents that exposed defects in
the company's drain cover and pump
In 1993, a Carolina girl was eviscerated when she became
stuck on a drain of a childrens pool due to the suction of a pump made by
StaRite.
