LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) – Las Vegas Athletic Clubs is suing the Southern Nevada Health District after its lifeguard waiver was revoked last week.
The health district announced on Thursday that it would be revoking LVAC’s waiver after an investigation into the drowning death of a woman in early February. To prevent shutting down their facilities to comply with the order, LVAC filed a lawsuit against the district on Monday.
“On or around 2017-2018, LVAC became aware of a new change in aquatic regulations which would require it to have three full-time lifeguards in each of its seven facilities,” the lawsuit reads. “Southern Nevada Health District did not provide LVAC with any notice of this new regulation.”
To comply with the policy change, LVAC sought a waiver that would allow it to monitor pool areas through video surveillance, which the district granted in 2020.
LVAC also describes a woman’s drowning death in early February as a “fatal heart attack,” which happened while the woman was surrounded by 15 other patrons.
“None of these patrons noticed that there was an emergency until the deceased succumbed to her heart attack,” LVAC states in the lawsuit.
The Clark County Coroner confirmed to FOX5 that this death was ruled a drowning, and identified the woman as 58-year-old Leticia Triplett.
In a release detailing why the waiver was revoked, the district noted that an inspection was conducted a month after Triplett’s death. The inspector found LVAC employees only checking the feeds every 30 minutes, rather than having the feeds “permanently staffed” as required by the waiver.
The lawsuit emphasizes that closing down pools across its several locations would make customers, who pay for the facilities, “extremely upset.” Additionally, LVAC estimated the cost of remodeling each facility to meet the district’s order would cost anywhere from $7 to $10 million per location, totaling around $50 to $70 million in total.
As an alternative, the lawsuit suggests a compromise that would see LVAC train lifeguards to monitor the pools full-time, rather than incur remodeling costs.
Both LVAC and the health district declined to comment on the lawsuit.
At the time of publication, no hearing date has been set for the case.
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