A 3-year-old Pennsylvania girl suffered catastrophic injuries — including evisceration — after becoming trapped by a pool drain during a family vacation in Mexico. Now, her parents have filed a federal lawsuit against the drain manufacturer, Hayward Industries.
Adam Quatrini and Carolina Vélez, of the Pittsburgh area, filed the complaint in March 2026 in U.S. District Court in Pittsburgh, alleging that a defective pool drain or drain cover caused the incident that left their daughter with life-altering injuries.
The incident occurred in February 2025 at a resort pool in Punta Mita, Mexico. According to the family’s account, the child — who was 3 — was sitting in shallow water when she became trapped by the force of a suction outlet after a protective cover failed or became dislodged. Family members were unable to free her until the pool pump was shut off, a delay of nearly two minutes.
She was initially treated in Mexico before being transferred to a U.S. hospital, where doctors determined she had suffered catastrophic internal injuries.
Surgeons performed multiple procedures, leaving her without nearly all of her small intestine, and she now relies on long-term medical support, according to published reports.
The lawsuit alleges that the drain system — including its protective cover — was defective and unreasonably dangerous, and that the failure directly led to the entrapment and resulting injuries.
The case, filed as Quatrini et al. v. Hayward Industries, Inc., is being heard in federal court in Pittsburgh, where the family resides.
Attorneys argue the case belongs in the United States because the manufacturer is U.S.-based and key witnesses, including medical providers, are located in Pennsylvania.
The current complaint names only Hayward as a defendant. An earlier lawsuit filed in 2025 included additional defendants, including the resort, but was withdrawn. The refiled complaint focuses on product liability claims against the manufacturer.
Hayward has not publicly detailed its response to the refiled complaint. In the earlier case, the company challenged jurisdiction, arguing the incident occurred outside the United States.
The lawsuit seeks damages in excess of $150,000 and a jury trial.
While the legal claims center on product performance, the incident involves a hazard long addressed through U.S. federal regulation. The Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act requires anti-entrapment drain covers and related protections in public pools and spas in the United States.
According to the family’s account, the drain cover in this case was not in place or failed at the time of the incident, exposing a suction outlet capable of generating significant force.
Industry guidance has long noted that drain covers are subject to wear from chemicals, sunlight, and regular use, and must remain securely attached to function as intended.
The lawsuit does not yet establish whether the failure was due to design, manufacturing, installation, or maintenance factors.
Suction entrapment incidents have become less common in the United States since adoption of federal safety standards, though they have not been eliminated. The most recent widely reported fatal case in a U.S. commercial pool occurred in 2024 at a Houston hotel.
The last widely documented U.S. case involving evisceration occurred in 2007, when Abigail Taylor, a Minnesota child, was severely injured in a drain entrapment incident that helped spur passage of the Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act.
As the case proceeds, it is expected to focus on whether the drain system functioned as intended under normal operating conditions, as well as where such claims can be litigated when an incident occurs outside the United States but involves U.S.-based manufacturers and plaintiffs.
