Settlement close in pool death

Published 5:00 pm Tuesday, August 12, 2008

A wrongful death lawsuit against the city of Astoria is to be settled out of court. The agreement came shortly before it was to go to trial.

The suit stemmed from the death of 34-year-old Jung Min Kim, who was discovered unconscious at the bottom of the lap pool at the Astoria Aquatic Center June 6, 2007, and died a few hours later at a Portland hospital.

A police report showed Kim might have been under water for 10 minutes before she was discovered.

Her husband, Joo Dong Park, a graduate student in Oregon State University’s surimi technology program, and his children, then ages 3 and 4, had gone to the Aquatic Center on a family outing. After his wife’s death, he and his children returned to South Korea for a time, then came back to Astoria so he could complete the graduate program. His sister accompanied him to care for the children.

The suit, filed by Park, alleged that negligence on the part of city employees and agents was a “substantial factor” in Kim’s death. Park asked for $500,000 in noneconomic damages and $100,000 in economic damages, for medical expenses and death expenses.

“It was resolved, a settlement was reached,” said Park’s attorney, Marvin Nepom, of Portland. “Settlements are encouraged. It happens in 95 percent or more of cases.” Nepom said the settlement was reached just two or three days before the July 29 trial date, but declined to give any further details.

However, City Manager Paul Benoit said the settlement has not been finalized. He said the city’s insurance company, City County Insurance Services, which handled the matter, informed him that the parties are still working out the details of a “structured settlement.”

It’s Benoit’s understanding the settlement will involve some money awarded up front, and some to be put in trust for the children. He said once details are finalized, Mayor Willis Van Dusen intends to make an announcement at a City Council meeting.

According to Park’s lawsuit, filed Sept. 25, 2007, the city was negligent in one or more of the following ways: failing to maintain sufficient lifeguards for the Center’s pools at their post and while Jung Min Kim was in the lap pool; having just one lifeguard on duty at the pools when children and others were in the pools and Jung Min Kim was in the lap pool; failing to immediately respond to Joo Dong Park’s request for help in finding his wife; the staff congregating in the pool office leaving the pool areas with inadequate lifeguard protection; failing to staff the pool areas with qualified trained lifeguard staff on duty the evening when Jung Min Kim was swimming in the lap pool; failing to maintain accessible lifesaving emergency equipment; and prematurely ceasing CPR resuscitation efforts on Jung Min Kim.

The city’s insurance company retained lawyer Richard Kuhn, who responded to Park’s suit Jan. 8. The city’s defense was that Kim’s injuries and death were the result of her own negligence in performing her lap swim in such a manner that she struck her head on the side of the pool, causing her to lose consciousness and drown, and/or swimming at a speed or under such conditions that she struck her head on the side of the pool or another hard object, causing her to lose consciousness and drown.

The city also stated that its employees are not liable for any claims based on the use of an automated external defibrillator unless they were grossly negligent, and that as government personnel they are immune from claims based on emergency medical assistance unless it can be proved they violated standards of reasonable care under the circumstances.