Three families from Jefferson County, Missouri, have filed a lawsuit this February against the Grand Plaza Hotel in Branson, alleging that the upscale hotel negligently administered chlorine shock treatment to the pool, while guests, including children and adults, were swimming. The incident resulted in immediate injuries, including one child who now allegedly suffers from permanent lung damage.
The incident occurred over Mother’s Day weekend in May 2021, when a hotel staff member used a commercial-grade pool cleaner bearing a warning on its label that explicitly states, “no one can be in the pool when chemicals are being added directly to the pool.” The lawsuit alleges that as a result of the hotel’s safety oversights, several children needed medical attention, including one young girl who suffered permanent damage to her lungs and throat.
“When this type of negligence happens it is very alarming, severe, and scary,” said Chris Finney, the families’ attorney. “The other issue with it is it is so easily preventable. This is a never event. It should have never ever have happened.”
The lawsuit states that families were accompanying a youth baseball team that was staying at the hotel from out of town to attend a baseball tournament.
As the team and their families played in the pool, a maintenance employee named Bradley Kertz allegedly added scoops of ProGuard granular calcium hypochlorite directly into the pool, getting some of the chemicals directly on the people in the pool.
“As the maintenance employee negligently spread the chemicals into the pool with people present, Grand Plaza Hotel did not provide hotel guests with any warnings or instructions despite the label’s warnings of fatality risks if ingested and ‘irreversible eye damage and skin burns,’” the lawsuit states.
Immediately following their exposure to the chemicals, the families began having adverse reactions including “burning eyes, burning skin, chest tightness, wheezing, shortness of breath, coughing, sore throats, vomiting with blood, bloody noses, light-headedness, bodily chills, and diarrhea. One child in particular now suffers from permanent damage to her lungs and throat despite failed efforts made by medical providers and therapists to restore her to normal lung functioning,” the lawsuit states.
At least 12 children between the ages of 8 and 12 sought medical attention.
A police investigation revealed that Grand Hotel employees actually shocked the pool on two separate occasions while the families were swimming, although it was only logged once.
The lawsuit seeks a jury trial and damages of at least $25,000 for each plaintiff.
Grand Plaza Hotel, Branson, MO
