Foss Swim School Lawsuit

Minnesota personal injury attorney Elliot Olsen is available for a free consultation regarding the chlorine bleach spill at Foss Swim School in the Knollwood Mall in St. Louis Park, Minnesota. He is a national speaker on safety and litigation issues. To contact Elliot regarding compensation for medical expenses, pain and suffering and emotional distress, call (612)338-0202 or submit our online form for a free consultation regarding swimming pool poisoning.

Chlorine is a poisonous, greenish-yellow gas. Short-term, high-level exposures may cause the following:

Immediately or shortly after exposure to 30 ppm or more of chlorine gas, a person may have chest pain, vomiting, coughing, difficulty breathing, or excess fluid in their lungs. Exposure to 430 ppm in air for 30 minutes will cause death (there were no deaths resulting from the chlorine bleach spill at Foss Swim School).
Liquid chlorine bleach and its vapors (at levels of 3-6 ppm in air) are irritating to eyes. At levels of 15 ppm in air people experience nose and throat irritation.

At 3 p.m. on January 16, 2010, emergency responders were called to Foss Swim School when several swimmers began vomiting, coughing and trouble breathing. At least 11 people at the swimming school were taken to the hospital, according to health officials.

John Foss, CEO of Foss Swim School, said about two cups of standard household bleach spilled onto the ground in the pump room, which is next to the pool. When a parent noticed an odor, the parent opened a door to the outside, which caused vapor to roll into the pool area, he said.

"It was basically a fog on the pool, but the effect was very dramatic, both visually and then wondering what it was," Foss said.

The bleach is kept in an outside room; the spill occurred during a routine maintenance procedure to clean pump room equipment.¹

Pritzker Olsen attorneys have recovered millions for their clients. Our lawyers have been interviewed by The Associated Press, CBS News, CNN, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today and others. For a free consultation regarding a Foss Swim School lawsuit, call (612)338-0202 or submit our online free consultation form.

1. Lora Pabst, St. Louis Park bleach spill sends 11 to hospitals, Star Tribune, January 16, 2011, updated January 17, 2011.

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