C.A. 2nd;
B276723

The Second Appellate District affirmed a judgment. The court held that the hosts of a pool party could not be held liable for relinquishing the supervision of a young child to his grandfather.

Five-year old Jaylen attended a pool party hosted by Alton Trimble and his wife. Trimble, who had been alerted to the fact that Jaylen could not swim, did not allow Jaylen in the swimming pool, but instead supervised him in a separate wading pool. When Jaylen's grandfather, Donald Green, a Captain for the Los Angeles City Fire Department, arrived, he told Trimble he would take over supervising Jaylen. Trimble cautioned Green that Jaylen should stay in the wading pool. Green nonetheless allowed Jaylen to play in the shallow end of the main pool. At some point, Green lost sight of Jaylen, who got in over his head and drowned. Jaylen's father, Jerry Taylor, sued the Trimbles for general negligence and premises liability, alleging their failure to properly supervise Jaylen and their disregard for “dangerous conditions in and around the swimming pool.” As to the latter, Taylor cited (1) the Trimbles' resurfacing the pool from “light to dark”; (2) their addition of a Jacuzzi, waterfall and slide; (3) the lack of a floating rope or other device dividing the shallow end of the main pool from the deep end; and (4) the ease of access from the wading area into the main pool.