Myrtle Beach resort to pay $26 million to family of child who suffered chlorine burns in pool
MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (WBTW) — A Myrtle Beach resort will pay $26 million to settle a federal lawsuit filed after a 3-year-old suffered serious chemical burns while visiting the Caribbean Resort in 2020, attorneys for the family said in a news release.
The incident happened over the 2020 Memorial Day weekend while the family was visiting the resort operated by Brittain Resorts.
According to the law firm Trial Lawyers for Justice, the child’s injuries were caused by a swimming pool that had “dangerous and illegally high levels of chlorine.”
The lawsuit revealed that the chlorine level records provided to the South Carolina Department of Environmental Control had been falsified for multiple years.
The family first noticed the child’s symptoms after leaving the resort to return home, the attorneys said. The child’s condition became worse over several hours before his parents took him to a pediatrician the next morning.
The child was eventually admitted to the University of North Carolina Burn Center where he was diagnosed and treated over the course of a week, attorneys said.
The child’s family later contacted DHEC, suspecting the burns came from exposure to elevated chemical levels in the resort’s pool, attorneys said. DHEC subsequently shut the pool down after testing showed dangerously high chlorine levels.
“This corporation and its insurance companies refused to settle this case year after year and refused to accept responsibility for what happened to an innocent little boy,” attorney Nick Rowley said. “The conduct and reckless disregard for the rights and safety of children and their families at this resort was egregious.”
Rowley said in his statement that the resort’s log book showed normal levels on both days the child was in the pool but that an investigation revealed that a resort worker certified in pool operation filled in data on days that he wasn’t working, including the one when the child was burned.
“This record setting settlement will not only fully compensate a little boy and his family but will send a powerful message to corporations across the country that callous disregard for the rights and safety of resort guests and children has big consequences,” Rowley said.
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Adam Benson joined the News13 digital team in January 2024. He is a veteran South Carolina reporter with previous stops at the Greenwood Index-Journal, Post & Courier and The Sun News in Myrtle Beach. Adam is a Boston native and University of Utah graduate. Follow Adam on X, formerly Twitter, at @AdamNewshound12. See more of his work here.
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