The family of a 38-year-old man who drowned while swimming at a health club has filed a lawsuit alleging that the lifeguard on duty was not trained or prepared to save the drowning man's life.
According to the Daily Post, Sumanth Kolar, 38, of Palo Alto — was swimming with two of his kids at Eichler Swim & Tennis Club and jumped feet first off a diving board around 5 p.m. on Aug. 4, 2023.
The lifeguard on duty was wearing jeans, had no breaks during a six-hour shift and didn’t receive training, according to the lawsuit.
Kolar struggled to stay afloat and started waving his hands, but the Post reported that he was too heavy for his kids to help.
The kids alerted 17-year-old lifeguard Brendan Ho, who pulled Kolar’s limp body out of the pool with the help of other club members in three to 10 minutes. Kolar was taken off life support at Stanford Hospital two days later.
The family is now suing the swim club for negligence, wrongful death and emotional distress.
Ho testified in October 2024 that the swim club never trained him on scanning the pool in the year that he worked there. He also said that the club never told him that jeans were unacceptable attire.
“Eichler’s wholesale failures to provide a competent, attentive lifeguard coalesced in Sumanth’s drowning death,” said Martin Neira, the family's attorney.
The swim club's primary defense is that Kolar signed a waiver that removes liability from the club in the event of physical harm at the facility.
The club had filed a motion to dismiss the case due to the waiver but later withdrew the request after a club member said he “observed Ho wearing ear plugs or looking at his phone on a prior occasion.”
The family is seeking an “eight-figure sum” that would require the sale of the swim club, a long-standing community institution.
The year-round club has a six-lane, 25-yard pool and diving well, four tennis courts and a barbecue area. The club has a 300-member cap and a 200-person waitlist, according to its website.
