It wasn?t about the money. It was about saving lives.
“We did this to bring the issue to the forefront so no other family would have to go through this,” said Tom Freed, the father of a 5-year-old who died in 2006 at a country club swimming pool.
An Anne Arundel Circuit Court jury found Monday that D.R.D. Pool Service Inc. of Hunt Valley negligent in managing a Crofton Country Club pool where Connor Freed drowned June 22, 2006.
Freed and Connor?s mother, Debra Neagle Webber, each were awarded $2,000,076 in the wrongful death lawsuit after a five-day trial ? the $76 as a tribute since Connor would have been 6 on July 6, 2006.
It was one of the largest, if not the largest, amounts awarded in a wrongful death lawsuit in Anne Arundel County, the family?s attorney Gary Wais said.
Paul Carroll, a Freed family friend who was watching Connor that day, was found not negligent by the jury.
Wais said the pool company, contracted by the country club, was negligent since drownings take 3 to 4 1/2 minutes, much too long for somebody not to notice. The one lifeguard was a 16-year-old rookie, he said.
“If it had been properly managed and supervised, Connor could have been saved,” Wais said. “The most basic duty of a lifeguard wasn?t properly carried out.”
The pool company?s attorney, Steven Migdal of Annapolis, could not be reached for comment.
“Maryland code and Anne Arundel County code are pretty clear about what the law requires ? one lifeguard for every 50 people in the pool, and that standard was met,” said Bill Carrier, the poool company?s corporate attorney.
The parents and their attorney said it was unclear how many people were in the pool at the time of the drowning. Connor’s parents are now fighting to change the law to required one lifeguard for every 25 swimmers and other safety intiatives by starting the Connor Cares Foundation.
