Personal Injury Law

Mother Sues For Wrongful Death after Son Drowns

The mother of a high school student who drowned when his paddleboat sank in the Fox River near the Chicago suburb of Algonquin is suing the school and the camp he was attending, claiming their negligence caused the wrongful death of her son. The bodies of the teenagers were recovered from the lake and all were pronounced dead a the scene. The teens were attending Camp Algonquin, a YMCA campsite, for a leadership seminar geared towards upperclassmen. The teens had been at the campsite with other students for the past eight days. At least one of the teens took the paddleboat from the campsite and boarded it in the river, but since the paddleboat had been winterized, meaning the plug preventing water from entering the bottom was removed, the boat sank. Two of the teens died after the paddleboat capsized and the third went in the water from the shore trying to save them and also went under. The mother of one of the boys filed a lawsuit in Cook County Circuit court accusing the association which organized the leadership retreat, the YMCA of McHenry County and the North Lawndale College Prep of negligence. The suit alleges all parties involved of leaving her son unsupervised and keeping the paddleboats in insufficient condition. The wrongful death lawsuit seeks more than $800,000 in damages. To read the full story, click here.

Full post as published by Illinois Injury Lawyer Blog on November 22, 2008 (boomark / email).