Jurors Award $21.5M To Family Of Boy Who Drowned In Pool

CHICAGO, IL – A Cook County Circuit Court jury awarded a $21.5 million verdict to the family of a 6-year-old boy, who drowned during a summer camp program to a municipal swimming pool in June 2014. The verdict is the highest for a drowning of a minor in the state of Illinois, according to the family attorney.

Michal Duda, 6, was attending the Justice Park District “Fun In the Sun” camp program when counselors brought the children to the Bridgeview Park District Pool on June 17, 2014. During the month-long civil trial, the family’s attorney maintained that Michal did not know how to swim. The boy could not stand anywhere in the main pool with his head above water. (SUBSCRIBE: Get Real-Time Alerts and a Daily Newsletter for Oak Lawn.)

Testimony revealed that Justice Park District summer camp counselors were aware that the boy should have been in the wading pool, and not in the main pool. Michal was pulled unresponsive out of the water. Rescuers and hospital personnel were unable to revive the boy.

An autopsy at the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office determined that Michal died of drowning. His death was ruled accidental.

After less than 90-minutes of deliberation, the jury held the Justice Park District 80 percent at fault, and the Bridgeview Park District 20 percent at fault.

“This is a terrible tragedy for the entire Duda family,” said Bradley M. Cosgrove, partner at Clifford Law Offices, who led the trial before Cook County Circuit Court Judge Marguerite Quinn at the Daley Center. “Although no amount of money will bring back their little boy, the parents and his two siblings, including his twin sister, needed to have accountability. They needed justice and the jury found that here today.”

Experts testified that the Justice and Bridgeview park districts “were willful and wanton in their failure to properly supervise the day camp group during the swim outing.” During the trial, video was presenting showing three camp counselors in the pool locker room at 8100 S. Beloit Ave., instead of being outside monitoring children, according to the family’s attorney. Michal Duda was found approximately 10 feet off the edge of the pool without any flotation device.

Cosgrove said the boy’s parents emigrated from Poland to Chicago where they met, married and had three children.

“These wonderful, hard-working people came to America to find a better life for their future children,” Cosgrove said in news release. “Now they will have to live with this tragedy for the rest of their lives. They will never be the same.”

~ Image via Shutterstock