
JANUARY 8, 2015, 7:29 PM LAST UPDATED: THURSDAY, JANUARY 8, 2015, 7:33 PM
BY PETER J. SAMPSON
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD
An appeals court Thursday ordered a new trial in a wrongful-death case in which the Village of Ridgewood was hit with a multimillion-dollar verdict after a jury found negligent supervision at Graydon Pool led to a 13-year-old boy’s drowning in 2008.
Soo Hyeon Park, his sister and parents had just arrived from South Korea and were visiting with friends in Ridgewood when they decided to go to the pool on July 15, 2008. While swimming out to a dock in the deep end with the two sons of his host, the boy began struggling to stay afloat and went under. None of the nine lifeguards on the stands around the pool that day saw the boy while he was in distress.
The jury found the village was negligent in its supervision and scanning of the patrons in the water and that the negligence contributed to Soo’s death. It awarded $10 million in damages: $4 million for the pain and suffering the boy endured as he drowned, $5 million to his parents and sister for their emotional distress and $1 million on the wrongful death claim as compensation for his parents’ and sister’s loss of Soo’s guidance, support and services, the appellate decision said.
In a post-verdict ruling, the trial judge accepted Ridgewood’s argument that the family was not entitled to damages for their pain and suffering because they failed to meet a medical expenses threshold of $3,600 under the Tort Claims Act, and the judge vacated the jury’s $5-million award on the emotional-distress claims.
https://www.northjersey.com/news/new-trial-ordered-on-claim-of-ridgewood-liability-in-boy-s-drowning-at-graydon-pool-1.1188894