Settlement reached in 2007 deaths of vacationing family

(April 3, 2009) A settlement has been reached in the year-old lawsuit filed in the deaths of a vacationing father and daughter in an Ocean City hotel in June 2007.

The settlement was reached during a March 26 conference between the many parties involved. The agreement brings to a close the lawsuit filed by Yvonne Boughter of Lebanon, Pa., following the June 27, 2007 deaths of her husband, Patrick, and daughter, Kelly, as the result of carbon monoxide poisoning at the Days Inn Oceanfront on 23rd Street while on vacation in the resort.

Yvonne Boughter and the couple's other daughter, Morgan, were sickened and required extensive treatment because of the deadly gas leak, and it was determined by the Ocean City Fire Marshal's Office that the cause of the leak was a faulty water heater in the basement of the hotel, underneath the room where the family was staying. Other hotel guests were also sickened by the carbon monoxide leak.

The details of the settlement were not disclosed to the public. Following the settlement conference, all claims in the suit were dismissed by U.S. District Court Judge William M. Nickerson in a settlement order filed March 26.

Boughter filed the lawsuit in February 2008 in U.S. District Court seeking $30 million in damages against Bay Shore Development Company, the owner of the hotel; Heat Transfer Products Inc., which manufactured the faulty water heater; R.E. Michel Co. Inc., which sold the heater to Bay Shore and All About Plumbing, which installed it at the hotel.

As is often the case in such lawsuits, the defendants filed cross-claims against each other and other companies that saw any part of the faulty water heater pass through their hands. In the end, there were 11 people and companies from across the country named in the lawsuit.

Attorneys representing the Boughters declined to comment on the details of the settlement this week. Attorneys representing the hotel group did not return calls seeking comment.