The family of an 85-year-old Florida man with dementia has filed a wrongful death lawsuit after he wandered away from his senior living apartment and drowned in a nearby retention pond.
James Holloway Sr. was reported missing on March 21 from his apartment on Marcis Pointe in Jacksonville.
Authorities said at the time that Holloway had dementia and was able to walk slowly on his own.
Deputies later found his body in a retention pond near the senior living complex.
Now, Holloway’s family is suing the owners of the property, Wendover Management LLC and NVC-103rd Street, LTD, accusing them of negligence and claiming the pond was in “dangerous disrepair.”
The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in Duval County, alleges the pond should have been fenced off or otherwise blocked from public access.
According to the complaint, the slope leading down toward the water was not properly maintained and was too steep, especially given its location near housing for elderly residents.
“James O. Holloway Sr. should never have been able to gain access to the pond,” the lawsuit states, alleging the area should have been restricted.
Holloway’s daughter, Latonya Stewart, appeared at a press conference with her attorneys and said her father’s death should never have happened.
“He did not deserve to die the way he did, at the bottom of a pond,” Stewart said.
Attorney Adam Finkle argued that the tragedy was both predictable and preventable.
“An apartment complex with a retention pond absolutely ignores their legal duties for how to maintain that man-made body of water, that retention pond falls into dangerous disrepair, and an absolutely foreseeable and preventable death happens,” he said.
Stewart also called on the property owners to address what she believes remains a serious safety issue.
“Anybody can walk out and slip in one of those ponds,” she said. “I’m sure it’s not the first and I hope it’s the last.”
The management companies named in the lawsuit have not publicly commented on the allegations.
