Fischer Redavid's Jordan Redavid, left, and Wicker Smith's Michael Reed deliver opening statements at trial over the drowning death of a four-year-old child. Watch the trial.
Gainesville, FL— Attorneys Tuesday debated what caused the death of a Florida toddler, as trial opened against a shopping center owner and manager of the site where the child drowned. Figueroa, et al. v. American Commercial Realty Corp., et al., 2023-CA-001916.
Kash Hodges, 4, fatally drowned in a retention pond behind Gainesville, Florida’s Oakwood Commons Shopping Center in March 2023. Hodges’ parents, Taychianna Figueroa and Gabriel Hodges, contend the property’s owner, Live Oak Shoppes Group LLC, and its manager, American Commercial Realty Corp., are responsible, because they failed to properly maintain or fence the pond.
During Tuesday’s openings, the parents’ attorney, Fischer Redavid’s Jordan Redavid, told jurors he would seek up to $200 million for the child’s death.
Figueroa, who worked for a pet grooming business at the shopping center, lived with her son in a back area of the shop. On the day of his death, the child awakened from a nap while his father slept and his mother was off-site, passed through a baby gate in the living area, made his way outside through an unlocked front door, and ultimately fell into the pond.
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In his opening, Redavid said evidence would show the drowning would not have happened if the pond had been secured. He said that the property owner, despite marketing the site as a family-friendly destination, failed to inspect the pond, eliminated security staff that could have monitored the pond, and decided against fencing the body of water, whose slope had become dangerously steep.
“This was a plaza specifically designed for children to come to with their families. This is a plaza that killed a child and ruined a family,” Redavid said. “He died because these two defendants, who were told for years to fence the pond, never did.”
But the defense pushed back on the claim that the pond needed a fence. Instead, they contend Figueroa failed to ensure the child was properly supervised and safe.
In his opening Tuesday, Wicker Smith’s Michael Reed walked through the events preceding the child’s death. He told jurors evidence would show that Figueroa knew the child was prone to running. However, he said that she left the site to pick up food as the child napped, but did not wake the child's father first. He added that Figueroa also chose not to lock the front door or another door that led to the space where Hodges and his father were sleeping.
“What is the true negligence for why this happened? Why does the little boy drown?” Reed asked. “[Figueroa] did not lock her door to prevent her four-year-old child from going outside alone. And that is the painful truth.”
Trial is expected to last through the end of next week.
Email Arlin Crisco at acrisco@cvn.com.
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