ST. LOUIS PARK, Minn. – A golf club has reached an $8 million settlement with the family of a 6-year-old girl who was fatally injured by the suction of a swimming pool drain, the club president said Wednesday.
Abigail Taylor died in March at Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha where she had undergone triple organ transplant surgery. She was injured last summer when she sat on the drain of a wading pool at the Minneapolis Golf Club, and the drain's powerful suction ripped out part of her intestinal tract.
The settlement exceeded the $6 million limit on the club's insurance, so the members had to vote to get a $2 million bank loan to pay the difference, club president Herb Houndt said Wednesday. Votes were counted this past weekend.
"I'm very pleased," he said. "We'd like to bring closure to this for both the club and Taylor family."
After Abigail died, her family was instrumental in persuading Congress and the Minnesota Legislature to pass safety laws that require entrapment-proof drain covers for new public pools.
Members of the Taylor family and their attorney did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment Wednesday.
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