Pool
ST. LOUIS — A federal jury in St. Louis has awarded $25 million to the parents of a two-year-old girl who drowned in an above-ground pool manufactured by Bestway USA Inc., finding the company primarily responsible due to a defect in the pool’s design.
The verdict followed a weeklong trial in the Eastern District of Missouri and represents a significant outcome in a case centered on product liability and the death of a toddler.
The case stems from the Aug. 3, 2019, drowning of Ellieanna Justice in Warren County, Mo., according to the May 9 petition for approval of wrongful death settlements filed in St. Louis Circuit Court.
The pool, purchased by her maternal grandparents, stood 51 inches tall and had a nylon strap wrapped around its exterior — a feature that plaintiffs argued allowed the child to climb the side of the pool even after the ladder was removed.
Ellieanna Justice’s parents, Annaleah and Kyle Justice, filed the suit against Bestway on Jan. 13, 2022, asserting claims of wrongful death, design defect and failure to warn under Missouri law.
The jury found Bestway 65 percent liable for Ellieanna Justice’s death, agreeing with the plaintiffs’ argument that the company’s pool design was unreasonably dangerous and lacked proper warnings.
Attorney Jake Plattenberger of TorHoerman Law, who represented the Justice family, presented evidence, including photographs of child-sized muddy footprints on the side of the pool, which he said showed the path Ellieanna Justice took in her final moments.
“A child can climb this kind of pool wall in seconds,” Plattenberger said, according to the Expert Institute, which noted how quickly tragedy can unfold. He underscored that the family’s objective in filing the lawsuit was to prompt Bestway to change its design to prevent future deaths. “All they wanted was for the company to change their design because they didn’t want this to happen to anyone else,” he said.
Bestway disputed the evidence presented, particularly the footprint photos, calling them speculative and insufficiently measured.
Throughout the three-year legal battle, several additional parties were involved. The lawsuit initially named Rural King Holdings LLP — the retailer that sold the pool — as a co-defendant.
However, in December 2024, Rural King was dismissed from the case under Missouri’s Innocent Seller statute, which protects retailers in favor of holding manufacturers accountable.
Bestway also filed a third-party complaint in March 2022 against Patrick and Mary Flake, Ellieanna Justice’s grandparents, alleging negligence and premises liability.
That claim was voluntarily dismissed by Bestway last month. The plaintiffs later reached a confidential settlement with the Flakes as well, describing the terms as fair and reasonable in a court petition.
The plaintiffs and Bestway also reached a confidential settlement agreement, the terms of which were presented for court approval. The court is expected to review the details, including attorney fees and litigation costs, during an upcoming hearing, as required under Missouri law for wrongful death settlements. The petition filed by attorneys for the Justice family states that the settlements are full and complete resolutions of all claims.
St. Louis Circuit Court case number: 2522-CC00862
