The family of a teen who drowned in an Anderson University swimming pool has settled its wrongful death lawsuit against the school — only days before the case was to go to trial.
Adam D. Toombs, 15, Anderson, died April 9, 2005, at Saint John’s Medical Center after attending his then-12-year-old sister’s birthday party at the AU pool. The Madison County Coroner’s Office officially ruled Toombs’ death an accidental drowning.
The case was set to go to trial Monday in Madison Circuit Court, but it was settled late Friday.
Lisa DeLey, who along with Mark Dudley and Max Howard, represented the Toombs family, said the terms of the settlement are confidential. She said the family had reached a verbal settlement with the university, but it would be several days before final paperwork is completed
“There are many terms in the settlement,” DeLey said, “both monetary and non-monetary.”
Adams’ parents, Patricia and David Toombs, and sister, Cheyenne, filed the lawsuit in February 2006. Along with claiming wrongful death, the family sought unspecified damages for Patricia’s and Cheyenne’s emotional distress because both were at the pool when Adam died.
According to the lawsuit, Adam was swimming from the pool’s deep end to the shallow end after the lifeguards, a pair of AU students, ordered everyone out of the pool as the party was winding down.
The teen made it to the shallow end and stood up, but didn’t respond when a lifeguard tried to speak to him. Adam then “appeared to have a seizure,” according to the lawsuit, but the lifeguard didn’t do anything in response.
Adam then went under water in front of one of the lifeguards, lying on his side in the fetal position, the lawsuit states.
Patricia Toombs and another lifeguard came up, and she said something was wrong with her son.
The lifeguards pulled Adam, who was limp, from the water. The first guard did three or four chest compressions, but the lawsuit claims neither lifeguard performed CPR. The lifeguards did use a defibrillator to try and revive Adam as Anderson firefighters arrived at the scene.
Chris Williams, director of university communications, would only confirm that a settlement had been reached.
“The details of the settlement remain confidential,” he said, referring further questions to the school’s Muncie-based attorney, Scott E. Shockley. Shockley was away from his office Monday and couldn’t be reached for comment.
A telephone listing for the Toombs family could not be found.
In its response to the lawsuit, the university denied in court filings most of the circumstances surrounding Adam’s death and claimed that “both lifeguards and Mrs. Toombs believed that Adam was being playfully stubborn about getting out of the pool.”
Both “lifeguards believed that Mrs. Toombs’ statement, mannerisms, and tone indicated that she was tired of dealing with Adam’s conduct, not that there was an emergency at hand.”
Also according to court filings, the university claims that one lifeguard immediately began performing CPR on Adam. The university claims while the lifeguard was performing CPR, “the lifeguard observed Adam breathing in several times, gasping for breath, expelling some water, and not gargling any excess water, which were all signs that Adam may be breathing and that his heart was beating.”
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8:12 p.m.: Settlement in AU drowning confidential
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