MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (WBTW) — A South Carolina resort will pay $26 million to settle a federal lawsuit filed after a 3-year-old suffered serious chemical burns in a pool, attorneys for the family said in a news release.
The incident happened over the 2020 Memorial Day weekend while the family was visiting Myrtle Beach’s Caribbean Resort, operated by Brittain Resorts.
According to the law firm Trial Lawyers for Justice, 3-year-old Ashtyn Douglas’ injuries were caused by a swimming pool that had “dangerous and illegally high levels of chlorine.”
“The resort looked beautiful, the resort looked safe,” attorney Nicholas Rowley said. “But what was in the water was not only dangerous but illegal.”
The lawsuit alleged that the chlorine level records provided to the South Carolina Department of Environmental Control had been falsified for multiple years.
The family first noticed Ashtyn’s symptoms after leaving the resort to return home, the attorneys said. His condition became worse over several hours before his parents took him to a pediatrician the next morning.
“As a 3-year-old, you don’t understand why it is that you’re in pain, why it is that you’re hurt,” Rowley said. “He was admitted to the hospital for a week where they treated his burns and then had to debride him.” Debridement is defined as the removal of dead tissue from wounds.
Ashtyn was eventually admitted to the University of North Carolina Burn Center, where he was treated for a week, attorneys said.
Ashtyn’s family later contacted DHEC, suspecting the burns came from exposure to elevated chemical levels in the resort’s pool, attorneys said. DHEC subsequently shut the pool down after testing showed dangerously high chlorine levels.
“This corporation and its insurance companies refused to settle this case year after year and refused to accept responsibility for what happened to an innocent little boy,” Rowley said. “The conduct and reckless disregard for the rights and safety of children and their families at this resort was egregious.”
Rowley said in his statement that the resort’s logbook showed normal levels on both days the child was in the pool but that an investigation revealed that a resort worker certified in pool operation filled in data on days that he wasn’t working, including the one when the child was burned.
“This record-setting settlement will not only fully compensate a little boy and his family but will send a powerful message to corporations across the country that callous disregard for the rights and safety of resort guests and children has big consequences,” Rowley said.
Rowley said the jury trial would have been sometime in late spring or summer if the resort hadn’t agreed to pay.
“The one thing that this family has not heard is ‘I’m sorry,'” he said. “The reason why this family brought this case is to make sure this didn’t happen to anybody else, especially another child.”
Nexstar’s WBTW reached out to the resort, which said it had no comment.
