I stumbled across this in getting details about John Edward's most famous case so I could answer the "ambulance chasing trial lawyer" charges. Found it interesting. Does anyone know in the Baker case if a lawsuit has been filed, or if a settlement has been made? Be a great counter if there is a suit to those Repugs yelling about "trial lawyers". Here's the story from a Pool and Spa newsletter.The police report refers to the 7-year-old girl simply as “Drown Person.”
But cloaked in the anonymity of that field investigation report are the true identity of the victim and the tragic circumstances that took her life. Both could change the pool and spa industry as we know it.
The victim in this case was Graeme Baker, the granddaughter of James Baker III, former secretary of state under President George Bush. While she did, indeed, technically drown, the events surrounding the accident are far more insidious. The police report lays them out in horrific detail:
The mother … tried to pull her daughter out of the pool. The mother could not lift her daughter from the pool and struggled greatly. Two persons then came to her assistance and pulled the girl out by her ankles.
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“The swimming pool and spa industry has been well aware of these risks since the late 1970s,” says Robert T. Hall, an attorney for Nancy and James Baker IV, Graeme’s parents. “Their products are especially hazardous to children. Since the 1980s, there have been at least 147 entrapment incidents documented, resulting in 36 deaths.”
http://www.poolspanews.com/2003/102/102entrapment.htmlAnd from the same newsletter some details on the Valerie Lakey case that is John Edward's most famous case.
For Valerie Lakey, it’s a moot point. There was no such thing as an SVRS when she was 5 years old and eviscerated by a suction outlet at a community wading pool in Medfield, N.C. Remarkably, she survived the incident and became one of the nation’s best-known entrapment victims, but it also radically changed the quality of her life forever.
“She can’t eat food like you and me,” says David Kirby, the Lakey family attorney. “She has to be fed with intravenous tubes and it has to titrate into her body 12 hours a day with a pump five times a week. “This is similar to baby food, but it’s caustic and hard on the liver. And it’s incredibly expensive. It cost $130,000 to $150,000 a year just to feed her.”
Lawsuits were brought against pool operators (city of Medfield), as well as Wake County, which ran the inspection programs for public pools. Hayward Pool Products, the pump manufacturer, and Sta-Rite Industries, the drain cover manufacturer also were named as defendants.
All defendants settled out of court for $5.9 million collectively except for Sta-Rite, which went to trial and eventually was found liable for $25 million.
http://www.poolspanews.com/2003/102/102entrapment2.html