 Amount: $16.2 million To: Oded and Anat Gottesman, parents of 4-year-old Jonathan “Yoni” Gottesman, who drowned on his first day of summer camp Plaintiff’s Lawyers: A. Barry Cappello and Leila J. Noel, of Santa Barbara’s Cappello & Noel Defense Lawyers: Jerry Popovich of Santa Ana’s Selman Breitman for individual camp employees; Daniel Henderson of Santa Barbara for Cal-West, the management company of the Cathedral Oaks Tennis, Swim and Athletic Club Judge: Santa Barbara Superior Court Judge Thomas Anderle The Accident: Yoni Gottesman was attending his first day of summer camp on August 15, 2005 at the Cathedral Oaks Athletic Club in Goleta. A weak swimmer, he had barely passed a swim test earlier in the day and was to remain in the shallow end of the pool. He was 41 inches tall, one inch shorter than the shallow end. Despite that, a guard took him to the middle of the pool and “dunked” him approximately 12 times. Yoni struggled to get back to safety but the lifeguards, counselor and staff did not notice him, even as he floated face down in the pool for over eight minutes. He was pulled from the pool and CPR was attempted, however none of the staff were certified in child CPR. The Case: The parents sued Cathedral Oaks and staff members, whom they claimed lacked proper training. In addition, the complaint charged that the facility was operating without a daycare license. The jury awarded $13.8 million in compensatory damages and $2.3 million in punitive damages. Ten of the 11 defendants, including Cathedral Oaks admitted negligence. The eleventh, Cal-West, operated Cathedral Oaks, and was found to be negligent by the jury. The jury also found Cathedral Oaks and three managers guilty of willful misconduct and acting with malice, oppression or fraud. Need to Know: The plaintiffs had a key piece of evidence – a surveillance video that showed the pool in the time leading up to and including Yoni drowning. While Yoni’s body is floating in the shallow end of the pool, the camp counselors are inattentive, with one leaving his post to go buy a soda. Page: 1 of 1 pages for this article
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