Parents, School Settle Suit Over Swimmer’s Death
The parents of a Hoover High School student who drowned during a school swimming class will settle out of court a wrongful death lawsuit filed against the district for an undisclosed sum, their attorney said.
The settlement is expected to be finalized in Glendale Superior Court this week, said Gary R. Gibeaut, attorney for the school district.
Neither Gibeaut nor the attorney for Manuel and Alice Kupelian would disclose terms of the agreement.
“We have agreed that the terms and conditions of the resolution are to be kept confidential,” Gibeaut said.
The lawsuit filed March 23 by the Kupelians alleged negligence by the Glendale Unified School District and its employees in the drowning death of their son Danny, 16. The couple sought unspecified damages, said their attorney, Gerald D. Raphael.
Danny Kupelian was swimming the final lap of a 100-yard warm-up swim Sept. 22, 1987, when a cyst on his brain triggered a seizure, making him lose consciousness and sink. He died about 1 1/2 hours later at Glendale Adventist Medical Center.
The lawsuit alleged that Kupelian’s death was caused by a several-minute delay between the time when students pulled him from the water and when the school nurse administered cardiopulmonary resuscitation, Raphael said.
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