The parents of a 2-year-old who drowned at a swimming pool in a mobile home park in Gorham last year have filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the owners.
Natasha and Jake Schmidt are seeking $150 million in damages for their emotional distress and the death of their son, Oakley Schmidt. The lawsuit, filed in Cumberland County last month, claims the Friendly Village mobile home park failed to maintain a fence that would have blocked him from entering the pool.
Attorneys listed in court filings for Maine Mobile Homes LTD, which owns Friendly Village and is named as a defendant in the lawsuit, could not be immediately reached for comment Wednesday.
Oakley died on May 22, 2024, after he wandered from his family’s yard in the mobile home park. His parents and neighbors began searching for him after realizing he was missing, according to the lawsuit.
Attorney Jeffrey Bennett, who is representing Natasha and Jake Schmidt, said in an interview Wednesday that Oakley’s parents found him in the park’s community pool, which was surrounded by a chain-link fence.
“Oakley’s life ended in Jake’s and Natasha’s presence,” the lawsuit states, adding that they were “overwhelmed with extreme and unimaginable emotional grief, trauma and suffering that no father or mother should ever have to experience.”
Bennett said surveillance footage from the mobile home park showed that Oakley had left the yard and ended up at a nearby neighborhood playground, located next to the community pool. Another camera angle showed Oakley standing inside the pool area, Bennett said.
The lawsuit claims Friendly Village neglected to maintain and repair the fence around the pool for years and that it was deteriorated.
Bennett said holes were punched through the chain-links, resulting in a “makeshift ladder,” which someone could climb up. The lawsuit claims that’s where Oakley entered the pool area.
“A meaningful jury verdict will motivate a corporation like the one that operates Friendly Village, and other corporations, to invest in maintenance to prevent tragedies like this,” Bennett said.
