GALVESTON - After his son fell and drowned in a family friend's pool last month, a Brazoria County man has filed suit against the pool's owners.
In a lawsuit filed July 20 in Galveston County District Court, Marco Antonio Esparza Jr. says Donna and Charles Nichols Jr. failed to make their pool inaccessible to minors during a party on July 5 making the Dickinson residents responsible for the death of Marco "Anthony" Antonio Esparza III.
The younger Esparza, who is a co-plaintiff in the case, was at the defendants' home with his mother and another sibling.
"On the occasion in question, the plaintiff's son was in the backyard unattended by an adult and not wearing any water safety devices," the original petition says.
"The defendants knew or should have known about the child's age and the danger the swimming pool presented to the child."
The boy's father says the child was found unconscious and unresponsive on the bottom of the deep end of the pool, which measures 10-feet deep and 30-feet-by-75-feet long.
The plaintiffs consequently seek unspecified monetary damages and a jury trial.
They are represented by attorney Kevin M. Prendergast of Friendswood.
Galveston County 10th District Court Judge David Garner is presiding over the case.
Case No. 10-cv-1974