• Alexander v. Sheraton, XX L YYYY. Fox TV News called it “historic justice.” Popular national and legal media called it the largest award for a minor who drowned in history. A $3.1 million dollar settlement was reached on the eve of trial. Craig Tobin, Tomas Petkus and Paula Tobin were proud to have successfully represented Roseanne Alexander and the Estate of Damarco Alexander in their pursuit of justice.Damarco died at the Four Points Sheraton O’Hare hotel. He was attending his 14th birthday party. He entered the pool with friends. He slipped from the shallow to the deep end. The water clarity was so poor that he could not be found for more than 20 minutes.
The defendants included Sheraton Hotel Corpo-ration and the limited partnership that had the license agreement to operate the hotel. The defendants claimed that the cause of Damarco’s death was his inability to swim. We proved that the pool should not have been open that day because of chronic water turbidity. The pool had been open on many prior days in violation of Illinois safety regulations. Pools open to the public should not place children at risk. Tragically, Damarco died because the turbidity of the water – the reason the pool should not have been open prevented his timely rescue.
• Brown, et. al. v. Ferrellgas, Inc. et. al., No. 98VS1441870 (Georgia), successfully represented estate and children of heavy equipment operator killed in crash in a wrongful death suit in Atlanta Georgia. It was one of the largest settlements in Fulton County for this type of case.
Resolved 2002