Our client, a delivery truck driver, had gone golfing with his best friends from work on a July Saturday.  They had played eighteen holes, drinking beer as they went.  After the golf game, they had gone to their favorite tavern, where they drank some more.  Then, the group went to one of their homes to barbecue and swim in the above-ground pool in the back yard.  As our client dove into the pool one last time before leaving for home, his head struck the bottom of the pool, and he lost consciousness.  Firefighters were immediately summoned, and they saved his life with CPR.  He was then taken to the hospital where a high neck fracture was eventually diagnosed.  His blood alcohol level was measured at .24.

Our client was permanently paralyzed from the neck down.  He had to live on a ventilator, since he was unable to breathe on his own.  His medical expenses were in the millions of dollars, and he would need $20,000 per month to cover future medical and living expenses.

The problem with the claim is that most people have the idea that diving into shallow water is dangerous without fully understanding why.  In this case, it was easy to see how deep the water was by looking at the side of the above-ground pool.  It was only 48”.  So, the concern was that a judge and jury could blame our client for his own misfortune.

We brought suit against the manufacturer of the above-ground swimming pool in federal court in Duluth and eventually settled the claim for an amount that would pay all his past medical expenses and pay enough per month to cover his future medical and living expenses, plus a significant extra amount, for the rest of his life.  The present cash value of the settlement was several million dollars.