Jupiter electrocution: Family of man who died files lawsuit against Harbourside Place
JUPITER — The family of Nate Davenport has filed a lawsuit against Harbourside Place, seeking damages after his electrocution Oct. 22 in the fountain of the waterfront restaurant-and-retail complex.
Harbourside Place was negligent when it allowed broken lights inside the fountain to leak electrical voltage into the fountain pools that day, the lawyer for the Davenport family has said. The 45-year-old Jupiter father of four had jumped into the fountain trying to save his children from electrical shocks.
The lawsuit, filed Wednesday, Dec. 27 by attorney Scott B. Smith of Palm Beach Gardens, claims that Harbourside Place’s owners created an attractive nuisance and “should have known of the dangerous and unsafe condition” at the fountain.
It goes on to say that Harbourside Place failed to install a ground-fault circuit interrupter, or GFCI, for the fountain, its lights and its electrical systems.
Harbourside Place in Jupiter denies knowing fountain was damaged
The lawsuit seeks more than $50,000 in compensatory damages and cites the infliction of emotional distress caused to Nate Davenport’s wife, Amy, and their children.
Barry A. Postman of West Palm Beach, the attorney representing Harbourside Place, holds that the complex’s owners were completely unaware of any problem with the fountain before the incident.
“Our first concern continues to be with the family as they go through and deal with this tragic loss,” said Postman in a prepared statement provided by Harbourside Place. “We know how tough this tragedy is for this beautiful family and we pray for them during this time.
"Had Harbourside known there was an issue they would have moved immediately to fix it. Harbourside had no knowledge whatsoever that there was any problem with the fountain. We are confident that the true facts will become known during the legal process.”
'A brother to everybody': Friends recall Nate Davenport, who died saving kids in Jupiter fountain
Smith wrote in a statement to The Palm Beach Post that Amy Davenport and her children “continue to endure excruciating pain, grief, sorrow, anguish and distress from the sudden, unexpected and tragic loss of their beloved husband and father, Nate Davenport.”
The lawsuit, he said, "is another significant step forward in the process of discovering and learning how and why this terribly dangerous and concealed condition was created and allowed to exist amongst all of us here in our community,” the statement reads.
“It is brutally painful for Amy and the kids that this invisible hidden trap caused injury to the children and took the precious, courageous, immense and exemplary life of Nate when he, Amy and the four kids had such a bright, expansive and beautiful future ahead of them."
Nate Davenport dived into fountain to save children from electrical shock
Davenport and a friend had taken some of their children to Harbourside Place on the afternoon of Oct. 22. Three children began to play in the splash area and fountain at the north end of the complex at Indiantown Road and U.S. 1.
When the kids screamed from the water, Davenport jumped in without hesitation and threw the kids out of the fountain, where swimming is not permitted. He never regained consciousness from the shocks he received and died at Jupiter Medical Center.
The friend also received treatment at the hospital. The children received treatment at St. Mary’s Medical Center in West Palm Beach, where paramedics took them as trauma patients.
Maya Washburn covers northern Palm Beach County for The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY Florida-Network. Reach her at mwashburn@pbpost.com. Support local journalism: Subscribe today.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Family of Nate Davenport electrocuted at Harbourside Place sues owners
