Texas woman sues Mexican resort after husband dies in hot tub

An El Paso woman filed a lawsuit against a Mexican resort hotel days after she and her husband were electrocuted in a hot tub while vacationing in Puerto Peñasco.

An El Paso woman filed a lawsuit against a Mexican resort hotel days after she and her husband, who died in the incident, were electrocuted in a hot tub while vacationing in Puerto Peñasco, lawyers said.

Lizzette Zambrano filed the wrongful death lawsuit on Friday, June 14, accusing several companies that operate the Sonoran Sea Resort in Puerto Peñasco, Mexico, a beach resort on the Gulf of California near the Arizona border that is popular with U.S. tourists.

Zambrano and her husband, Jorge Guillen, both of El Paso, were on vacation when they were electrocuted in a hot tub at the resort on Tuesday, June 11. Guillen died at the scene, while Zambrano suffered life-threatening injuries and was resuscitated before being taken to a hospital. She remains in critical condition at a hospital in the U.S.

The lawsuit names Casago, LLC., Casago International, LLC. and High Desert Travel, LLC. as defendants. It was filed in El Paso District Court. No attorneys for the three defendants are listed in court records.

Zambrano is seeking more than $1 million in damages for the fatal incident at the resort, the lawsuit says.

More:Love “forever”: Friends help couple from El Paso after electric shock in Mexican resort

Attorneys Tej Paranjpe and Michael Rodriguez of PMR Law and Charles Bush of Bush & Bush Law Group are representing Zambrano and her husband’s estate.

“There is no reason why this should have happened,” Paranjpe, a Houston-based trial attorney, said in a statement. “Hotels and resorts have a duty to ensure the safety of guests. At no point did resort staff think to initiate an emergency shutdown, let alone warn guests about a faulty, dangerous facility.”

Friends of the couple set up a GoFundMe page to help with medical and funeral expenses. As of Friday, the page had raised nearly $47,000.

Summer holidays end in tragedy

Zambrano and Guillen were “excited to arrive at their vacation spot and wanted to spend some time in the shared pool area,” the lawsuit states.

The couple went to a hot tub near the community pool. Guillen entered the hot tub and was immediately “exposed to an electrical current in the water,” the lawsuit states.

Guillen fell into the tub and was pulled beneath the water’s surface. Zambrano saw her husband collapse in the hot tub and ran from the edge of the pool to catch him, the lawsuit says. When Zambrano touched Guillen and the water, she went into shock and fell into the hot tub.

Resort visitors ran to the hot tub and tried to help the couple, but Zambrano was grabbed by another guest and dragged out of the hot tub.

Visitors at the scene attempted to use a “shepherd’s cross and other objects to remove Jorge’s body from the hot tub. However, the metal of the objects conducted electricity and electrocuted the rescue workers,” the lawsuit states.

The lawsuit alleges that it took resort staff 10 minutes to arrive on site and help remove Guillen from the hot tub.

“At no time prior to this did the defendants attempt to activate the emergency stop switch for the hot tub or to rescue Jorge or Lizzette,” the lawsuit states. “Jorge was electrocuted and drowned underwater for 10 minutes.”

Lawsuit alleges negligence on the part of the defendants

The electrical wiring of the hot tub was faulty and was not repaired by any of the defendant’s employees. In addition, no signs were posted warning people of “the deadly danger,” the lawsuit states.

“The defective hot tub on defendant’s property constituted a hazardous condition,” the lawsuit states. “The hazardous condition on the property posed an unreasonable risk of injury because it was not immediately apparent to plaintiff (Zambrano), thereby creating a situation where the presence of the hazardous condition could result in injury to invited guests and death.”

The defendants should have known about the dangers of the hot tub or should have realized through “exercising ordinary care” that the hot tub was defective, the lawsuit states.

“The defendants breached their duty of care by failing to adequately maintain the premises and the condition and/or by failing to make the condition sufficiently safe,” the lawsuit states.

More:Man from El Paso dies allegedly from electrocution in hot tub at Mexican beach resort in Puerto Peñasco

The lawsuit describes Guillen as a “hardworking, loving, compassionate, energetic, cooperative, patient and attentive father who provided guidance, counsel, mentorship, protection, comfort, assistance, care and attention to his family.”

It continues: “Through Guillen’s death, Lizzette was deprived of the love and companionship of her husband and of the right to affection, comfort, security, companionship and assistance… Through Mr. Guillen’s death, the plaintiff (Zambrano) and his children have lost his care, advice, support, services and supervision, and have suffered all other damages.”

The lawsuit demands that the defendants pay for Guillen’s “pain and suffering and loss of wages.” It also seeks financial compensation for the “emotional anguish Lizzette suffered as a result of her injuries” as well as medical, funeral and burial costs.

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