"It's the worst," Specter said.
The Common Pleas Court jury awarded $24 million to Destine and $250,000 to her parents, Robert and Mary Weightman, who now live in Roxborough. Mary Weightman is a clerical employee for SEPTA. Her husband is unemployed. Neither could be reached for comment.
The jury assigned 75 percent of the liability to one defendant - Progressive Pool Management Inc., a Wilmington company that manages swimming pools and furnishes lifeguards. The other 25 percent fell to the landowner, the Park Lane East Apartments.
An attorney for the apartment complex could not be reached for comment.
Edward A. Tarlov, the attorney for Progressive Pool Management, said: "We think it's a tragic incident and, really, any further comment would be inappropriate." Asked whether company owners would appeal, Tarlov said they are "mulling" their options.
Jed Zarin, general manager of a Newark, N.J., company that tracks jury verdicts, said the $24 million award is the largest he can remember for a personal injury case in Pennsylvania.
The money will be needed.
Judge Victor DiNubile Jr., who presided over the case, said that if the girl lives a full lifespan, her medical care alone will cost about $20 million. "Then there's the loss of the pleasures of life," he said.
Nonetheless, the judge said he expects the parties to agree on a final payment that is somewhat less than the jury's award.
"It's going to be reduced," DiNubile said. "They're going to work it out."
The defense described the tragedy as follows:
On Aug. 29, 1993, the Weightmans gathered at the Park Lane swimming pool with Destine and their other children. At some point, Robert Weightman went back to the apartment with a headache. Later, when Mary Weightman was assembling the family for a picture, she momentarily lost sight of Destine. She went to find her and discovered a commotion in the pool's deep end.
