The family of a 17-year-old lifeguard who was electrocuted Labor Day weekend filed a lawsuit this week against two electrical companies, saying their substandard work led to her death. Rachel Rosoff was found in a pool near a subdivision in North Raleigh, N.C.
Authorities later determined that a faulty ground wire in the pool's electrical system didn't trip a circuit breaker when the pump motor failed, allowing the water in the pool to become electrified.
According to a report from WRAL News, the lawsuit, filed by Rosoff’s parents on what would have been her 18th birthday, names Williams Electric Motor Repair, Inc. and Future Connections Electrical, Inc. as defendants.
The lawsuit claims that work performed by Williams Electric in June 2011 violated the National Electrical Code. That installation work required that the aluminum wiring that had been in place since 1979 be replaced, but the company failed to do so.
At the time of the accident, the Heritage Point pool had been inspected three times in 2016 for health and safety issues but an electrical inspection hadn’t happened since the pool was built in 1979.
Other lawsuit claims:
- Williams Electric did not have a permit for the work performed and did not have the work inspected.
- Future Connections installed the wrong size capacitor in the pool’s pump motor, causing it to fail and overheat.
- Employees found safety hazards at the pool that they should have reported and didn’t.
Under current law, electrical systems at public pools are required to be inspected only when the pools first open, WRAL reported.
