A U.S. woman whose husband passed away after being electrocuted in a hotel hot tub in the Mexican beach town of Puerto Peñasco, Sonora, has filed a wrongful death and negligence lawsuit against the resort operator seeking US $1 million in damages.
According to the Associated Press, the woman named Lizzette Zambrano, 35, filed the lawsuit against vacation rental provider Casago International and travel company High Desert Travel, both based in Arizona. The lawsuit holds them responsible for faulty electrical wiring in the Puerto Peñasco hot tub that caused the electrocution and death of Jorge Guillén, 43, and electrocution of Zambrano, which resulted in serious injury.
The Arizona-based travel operators did not respond to a request for comment from the AP.
Zambrano’s claim says that the tragedy began when her husband Guillén and several other family members arrived at the Sonoran Sea Resort, a complex of high-rise condos in Puerto Peñasco. Zambrano and Guillén headed to the jacuzzi to watch the sunset over the sea. When Guillén dipped his foot inside the hot tub, he was electrocuted. The shock knocked him down and he fell into the tub, quickly becoming trapped underwater.
As reported by the AP, the Mexican-American couple didn’t know an electric current was rippling through the hot tub water.
“It’s absolutely terrifying,” Tej Paranjpe, an attorney at the Houston-based firm PMR Law, told the AP on Saturday.
Zambrano jumped in to rescue her drowning husband, but was jolted by the current and sucked in, too. Cellphone footage from the incident shows hysterical hotel guests gathering around the jacuzzi unable to help as they discover the invisible danger of the water.
The lawsuit says that the resort managers not only failed to prevent and warn guests about the hazards of the hot tub, but also failed to react quickly enough to the emergency. Ten minutes passed until hotel employees responded to the guests’ cries for help, Zambrano’s lawyers said.
“There was not a single staff member that did anything while Jorge was getting continuously shocked again and again underwater,” Paranjpe said.
According to the lawsuit, a guest dragged Zambrano out of the water. However, efforts to retrieve Guillén with poles and various metal tools only unleashed electric shocks on more people. When the manager eventually retrieved Guillén from the bottom of the jacuzzi, it was too late.
Zambrano was medevacked to Phoenix by helicopter and was discharged from the hospital on Friday.
The accident, which occurred on June 11 at around 8:30 pm, is currently being investigated by the Attorney General’s Office of Sonora.
Puerto Peñasco, also known as Rocky Point, is located on the Gulf of California, and is a popular beach destination among U.S. tourists due to its proximity to the Arizona border.
With reports from the Associated Press
OMyGod….the horror……The HORROR!
You think this is funny? Shame on you.
Tv news comment owners of hotel were in trouble already before this accident.
But I would have gone for 100 million, otherwise they will offer her $20,000
A US travel agency isn’t going to be forced to pay anything, no matter what the number is. Their travel contract didn’t warranty the electrical wiring in the resort nor create a duty with respect to that. Although their insurance might choose to pay out, they wouldn’t pay anything in court except their lawyers’ fees.
[Assuming that it’s a wholly separate legal entity from the vacation rental provider.]
A Mexican hotel isn’t going to pay much. As you say, $20,000 USD would be a likely award for Mexico ($1 million MXN would be large) which very rarely pays negligence awards at all. You could ask for $100 billion, it doesn’t matter.
Now, the US-based vacation rental PROVIDER…they’re going to pay.
Why she only filed for $1 million in the United States I have no idea. A personal homeowner’s policy in the US often pays $1 million…and not for the rich.
Who has ever heard of a $1 million dollar wrongful death action in the US? Either those lawyers are terrible, or someone misread something and this information is wrong.
No GFI breaker, that should to be with in 5 meters of the unit. Lack of Electrical Codes in Mexico. This is 100% avoidable. My guess it was the light in the tub that also was not on a GFI breaker.
All correct.
That said, the first staff member should have gone for the breaker box or someone who knows where it is.
I found this tragic account confusing. My understanding is that when someone is electrocuted, they’ve died. Early on, the piece said that Mrs. Zambrano jumped into the pool to help her husband, only to be electrocuted herself. I was relieved to read later on that she was not killed. I believe a more accurate account would have said that she was shocked, not electrocuted, sparing the reader the anxiety of contemplating two tragic deaths.
Wife of US tourist who died in Puerto Peñasco hot tub electrocution files US $1M suit
Seems pretty clear that she didn’t die.