Our swimming pool drowning attorney knows that determining the cause of death in most swimming pool accidents is easy.  In a public pool, there are typically many others who witness the accident.  It is usually obvious that an accidental drowning was the cause of death.  Even when a swimming pool drowning accident occurs in a private pool, there are often witnesses who can describe the events as they occurred, helping authorities to understand the situation.  But when a dead body is discovered in a swimming pool after the fact, it is not always obvious that the individual actually drown in an accident.  Sometimes the deceased drown as a result of foul play.  Occasionally the death has nothing to do with a pool at all, but instead is simply the location where the body is dumped.

As The Walton Sun recently reported, a medical examiner’s report concluded that the death of an area businessman was an accident.  In July, the dead body of a 50 year old man was discovered in his estranged wife’s swimming pool.  He was found with his body submerged under water in the deep end, where the depth was 8 feet. 

Because of the circumstances surrounding the discovery of the body, local officials performed an autopsy.  The medical examiner determined that his neck and back injuries were consistent with a diving accident.  Toxicology results show that he had alcohol and a number of prescription medications in his blood when he died.   Examiners were not able to determine if he was conscious or not when he drowned.

Cases like this, where the cause of death is not obvious, can be challenging for family members trying to seek judicial relief.  An attorney representing the injured party or victim’s family members has the burden of convincing a jury what happened.  In a negligence suit, for example, the lawyer will need to show what caused the man’s death and all the elements of negligence.  For example, in addition to showing that the owner had a duty to enclose the pool with a fence and breached that duty, the lawyer will need to show that the man accidently died when he fell in the pool.

Negligence is an example of a civil suit.  In a civil case, the burden of proof is the preponderance of evidence.  Though there is no exact formula for determining what this means, generally it is understood to mean more than 50 percent.  So, if a jury thinks that there is more than a 50% chance that the man accidently drown while drunk and there was no fence to protect him from stumbling into the pool, then the case against the pool owner might be successful.

At the J. Guerra Law Firm, our Texas swimming pool accident attorney has years of expertise dealing with swimming pool accident cases.  He can examine the facts of your case and determine if you will be able to prove your case by the preponderance of evidence.  If you or someone you know has been injured or died in a swimming pool accident, please contact us so that we can help you determine the best way to proceed. 

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