Kids suffer burns when hotel worker dumps chemicals in pool with them in it, suit says
Three families are suing a hotel after they say an employee poured chemicals into the hotel’s pool while children were swimming.
A lawsuit was filed Feb. 1 against the Grand Plaza Hotel, LLC in Branson, Missouri. It stems from a May 8, 2021, incident.
McClatchy News reached out to the Grand Plaza Hotel, LLC but was unable to make contact.
On Mother’s Day weekend, a youth baseball team stayed at the Grand Plaza Hotel. After a day on the fields, the team decided to unwind with a swim in the hotel’s indoor pool, the lawsuit said.
While the team, along with young children and adults, swam and played in the pool, a hotel worker conducted a routine treatment of the pool, often known as “shocking,” according to the lawsuit.
The employee poured ProGuard Calcium Hypochlorite Granular into the pool while people were still swimming.
The occupants of the pool immediately began feeling effects from the chemicals, including burning eyes, burning skin, chest tightness, shortness of breath, coughing, vomiting with blood, bloody noses and more, the lawsuit said.
“The Grand Plaza Hotel had me fearing for the lives of my three children on Mother’s Day—a holiday meant to celebrate your children and the gift of motherhood,” a woman cited in the complaint as D.L. said in a news release from Finney Injury Law. “It was a complete nightmare.”
The employee ignored warning signs on the chemicals that said “keep out of reach of children” as well as instructions that “(f)or any application method you choose: No one can be in the pool when chemicals are being added directly to the pool,” according to the lawsuit.
“The Grand Plaza Hotel employee proceeded to scoop the chemicals directly into the pool where the families were swimming and playing, while also getting some of the chemicals directly on people in the pool,” the lawsuit said.
None of the guests were notified of what the employee was doing and what chemicals were being poured into the pool, according to court documents.
One child sustained permanent damage to her lungs and throat, according to the lawsuit.
The court documents say the employee “shocked the pool on two separate occasions that night, prior to the pool’s closure, while guests were swimming in the pool.”
This led to 12 children needing to be medically treated, the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit is asking for an excess of $25,000 for each plaintiff listed.
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