Family Sues Hilton Over Electrocution in Pool

A family is suing Hilton Worldwide after several family members were injured and one electrocuted in a pool at Hilton's Houston Westchester property. Raul Hernandez Martinez, 27, died from his injuries a week after rescuing his family from the pool during Labor Day weekend, according to the lawsuit.

The Missouri City, Texas, family alleges “gross negligence of epic proportions." The complaint accuses the hotel operators and a local electrical repair company, Brown Electric. It cites shoddy repairs, a lack of safety features, and a failure to obtain city permits for work on the underwater pool light. They were at the swimming pool at dusk when the lights came on automatically. Eyewitness accounts, and now a civil lawsuit, detail how an electrical current immediately surged through the water.

 "In the weeks leading up to the Labor Day weekend, Hilton Westchase maintenance personnel were experiencing problems with the pool light and its associated circuit breaker, but did nothing to ensure that there was no danger to those guests entering the pool," the plaintiffs claim. (For the full story of what happened, see Courthouse New Service.)