Not long ago, POOL& SPA NEWS published a lengthy article about the decline in sales of diving boards over the past five years. The piece, written by AmyJo Brown, focused primarily on the now-famous Shawn Meneely lawsuit. It also looked at diving-board accident statistics and the role insurance companies can play in the fate of a product.
A shortened version of that article is reprinted in this issue of CUSTOM HOME OUTDOORS starting on page 22. I decided to publish the piece again so that custom home builders can have the opportunity to find out about this important shift in the way Americans are experiencing their swimming pools. I also wanted to give pool builders, who may have missed the article, a chance to read it. The piece is extremely interesting, complex, and to my mind, sad.
Sad that Shawn Meneely’s life will never be the same. Sad that millions of young women and men could be denied the simple joy of bouncing off a diving board, flying through the air, and splashing safely into the water. And, perhaps saddest of all, is that litigation can forever change the face of an American institution.
