Danika Ross at pond where she died
Photo: Simon Ross via YouTube
Danika Ross at pond where she died
Photo: Simon Ross via YouTube
QUINCY -- According to court records, the wrongful death trial involving Danika Ross' family following her drowning death in Quincy in 2021 has been posted to 2023. The Ross family lawsuit against Cave B L.L.C. and the Familigia Water District has been set for June 26, 2023 with a motion hearing for judgement planned for Nov. 4, 2022.
In July 2021, the 10-year-old girl from Issaquah and her family were vacationing at a resort near the 300 block of Silica Road Northwest when she was sucked into an irrigation pipe. Ross reportedly slipped under the surface of a three-acre pond while swimming with other children, according to the sheriff’s office. According to the lawsuit, Danika's body was "thrust down into a 90-degree bend in the pipe," and "her body was transported nearly 70 feet up the hill via the mechanical pump mechanism." According to the Grant County Coroner, Danika died by asphyxiation from drowning and compression of the torso due to the pressure in the pipe.
The lawsuit filed alleges that the young girl was swimming in a man-made lake unfit for aquatic recreation because of an un-grated 14-inch pipe that was creating suction.
The Ross family's legal counsel contends that advertisements made no mention of the hazard posed by an un-grated pipe that is used to irrigate the vineyard nearby. The lawsuit claims that a penalty is also warranted because there were no warnings or visible indicators posted at the mouth of the inlet pipe in the lake.
According to the lawsuit, the family is suing over "sustained economic and non-economic damages, including past and future medical expenses, past and future lost income or earning capacity, emotional distress, grief, loss of enjoyment of life, mental anguish and pain and suffering...The Ross family has sustained damages including the loss of accumulation of income and incurred medical, funeral, and burial expenses, and the conscious pain, suffering, anxiety and fear of impending death experienced by the decedent."