The State - News from April 20, 1989

Orange County officials have denied fault in a pool accident in which one child died and two others suffered severe brain damage at an unlicensed day-care center at a North Tustin home. A $10-million claim filed against the county asserts that officials did nothing to prevent the March 30 accident and failed to follow up on shutdown orders issued to operators of the center. “We followed the law,” Dianne Edwards, chief of day-care licensing for the county Social Services Agency, said. “The responsibility lies with the care providers and with the parents whose children were placed there, not with the county.” The claim was filed by Timothy and Sandra Polsfoot, whose 19-month-old daughter remains comatose. Such claims must be filed before a lawsuit can be initiated against the county. The Polsfoots have already sued for unspecified damages from Orvel and Diana Brooks, who were twice ordered by the county to close the center.