Swimmers file suit against university , pool supply company

By Nathan Hathaway

A lawsuit filed on behalf of 12 members of the 2002-2003 Fresno State women’s swimming team alleges that school officials made members of the team practice for nearly a month in a North Gym pool containing up to 10 times the normal level of chlorine.

According to the lawsuit, filed Oct. 17 in California Superior Court, the school forced the swimmers to continue practicing in the pool after they complained of various symptoms that they say came as a result of swimming in a pool with too much chlorine.

The suit also names Leslie’s Swimming Pool Supply, which, the suit says, gave the school an incorrect reading of the chlorine level in the pool.

The swimmers’ Culver City, Calif.-based attorney, Greg Stannard, has advised his clients not to speak with the media.

Six of the 12 swimmers named in the suit—Sarah Batchelor, Kathryn Haney, Julie Heaton, Melissa Johnson, Elizabeth Trujillo and Heather Twedt—are on this year’s swim team. The remaining six—Cassandra Busay, Kristi Collins, Kathryn Easey, Kim Hitch, Jessica Klenner and Bethany Starkweather—were on last year’s team but are not swimming for Fresno State this year.

University spokesman Mark Aydelotte said it is the university’s policy not to comment on pending litigation. John Kelly, general counsel for Leslie’s Pool Supply, said his company has a similar policy.

The lawsuit alleges that the swimmers’ exposure to unsafe chlorine levels “was intentional and/or reckless and was further outrageous, malicious and committed for the purpose of causing plaintiffs to suffer injury, harm, humiliation, mental anguish, and severe physical and emotional distress.”

Stannard said the court has already assigned a status conference for February, when lawyers for both sides will meet to explain their respective positions. Stannard said he will begin taking legal statements as soon as the school responds to the lawsuit.

The swimmers filed a legal claim against the school in April. A claim is a legal action filed with the state when a party is planning to sue a government entity. Stannard said the school rejected the claim, making the suit possible.

The swimmers say in the lawsuit that the unsafe conditions caused them to experience several symptoms, including hair loss and skin irritation.

The suit also alleges the swimmers’ exposure to the elevated chlorine levels affected their respiratory systems. The swimmers say they now have lung pain and difficulty breathing. The suit says that those swimmers who had asthma previously now suffer from worse symptoms, and those who did not have asthma can “reasonably expect a future diagnosis of asthma.”

The swimmers say the problem began in October 2002. After a week of practicing in the North Gym pool, the swimmers say, they began noticing the initial physical symptoms.

The following day, the team discussed the problem and concluded it was as a result of exposure to too much chlorine. The team told then-assistant coach Frannie DeBord, who “advised the appropriate persons” in the athletic department.

The swimmers say the school disregarded their complaints and took no action other than to begin posting the readings of the daily chemical tests, which showed the chlorine level to be within normal range—between 2 and 2.5 parts chlorine per million parts water.

As the athletic department made the team continue to practice in the pool, the lawsuit alleges, their symptoms worsened and new symptoms began to develop.

The lawsuit says the swimmers and DeBord continued to complain to the athletic department until, at the beginning of November, the school contracted Leslie’s Pool Supply to perform an independent test of the water in the North Gym pool. That test came back with a reading of 10 parts per million. The lawsuit alleges that the school concluded that the test, “despite being more than four times higher than normal levels, was not dangerously high and was not the cause of” the swimmers’ symptoms. They were told to continue practicing in the pool.

About two weeks later, the team arrived at practice and refused to get in the pool.

“ It got to be too much, and it was too long,” former Fresno State swimmer Kim Hitch told The Collegian in April. “So we decided we weren’t going to swim [in the pool] anymore.”

After the swimmers’ refusal to get in the pool, the school arranged for the Fresno County Department of Health to conduct a second independent test of the water. That test resulted in a reading of 24 parts per million. The swimmers allege the chemical level had been at least that high for the whole time the team had been practicing in the pool.

The results of the first independent test, performed by Leslie’s Pool Supply, which said the chlorine level was at 10 parts per million, was the maximum level of chlorine that the testing equipment used by Leslie’s was capable of recording, the lawsuit says.

Shortly after the results of the health department’s test were released, the school admitted that the excessive chlorine in the pool was because a newly assigned plant operations worker with no experience in pool maintenance “had been randomly pouring large quantities of chlorine into the water.”

The swimmers also say the school used faulty and inaccurate testing equipment to take daily readings.

The athletic department sent a letter, dated Nov. 25, 2002 and signed by Athletic Director Scott Johnson, to the swimmers and their parents saying that “the Fresno State Athletics Department medical staff and the university health center have indicated that the swimmers’ symptoms soon will disappear and there should be no long-term effects from their exposure to higher-than-normal chlorine levels.” The lawsuit states that the university had no basis for making that statement and that many of the swimmers still suffer from long-term effects.