Costco Travel Isn’t Liable in Antigua Resort Wrongful Death Case, Federal Judge Rules
A sun-soaked family getaway in the Caribbean, promised as a safe haven post-pandemic, spirals into unimaginable tragedy when a young girl drowns in a resort pool amid chaos and neglect. Now, after three grueling years of courtroom battles, a federal judge has slammed the door on the grieving parents’ bid to hold Costco Travel accountable, ruling the retail giant was too distant from the disaster to shoulder blame.
In a stinging dismissal handed down on October 15, 2025, U.S. District Judge April M. Perry of the Northern District of Illinois granted Costco Travel’s motion to toss the family’s third amended complaint with prejudice, ending their wrongful death suit in case No. 1:22-cv-06741. The 13-page opinion zeroed in on a fatal flaw: no plausible allegation of proximate cause linking Costco’s promotional pitches to the drowning of the couple’s daughter, identified in filings as I.N.
The nightmare unfolded in December 2020 at the Royalton Hotel Antigua (RHA), a 4-star beachfront property in the Eastern Caribbean that plaintiffs Zoran Nikolovski and Aleksandra Kirovska booked through their Costco membership. Lured by Costco’s website glow-up—boasting “exceptional service,” “upscale design,” and a 3.7-star average from “Costco Member Reviews”—the family jetted off expecting family-friendly bliss. But RHA, which shuttered in March 2020 amid COVID-19 and rushed a reopening on November 29, was a far cry: understaffed, unclean, plagued by bugs, thefts, food poisoning, and rowdy guests yelling obscenities or worse in the pool area.
On the trip’s second day, around 11 a.m., sisters I.N.—a competent swimmer over 4 feet tall—and V.N. splashed in a 3-foot-deep jet tub near the pool, mingling with 8-10 other kids. No lifeguards patrolled; no warning signs loomed. V.N. stepped away for drinks; moments later, I.N. was allegedly struck in the head by an unknown guest, slipping unresponsive underwater. A fellow vacationer fished her out and started CPR, joined by a doctor-guest who begged for a defibrillator. Resort staff fumbled: A nurse vanished after promising the AED—locked away and unreachable—and an ambulance dawdled 30 minutes. I.N. reached the hospital in cardiac arrest, succumbing to acute respiratory failure from drowning and pulmonary edema.
The parents, reeling from loss, fired their first salvo against Costco on December 1, 2022, roping in the resort and others before jurisdictional hurdles sidelined all but the travel arm. Amended complaints piled up, alleging negligence under Illinois’ Wrongful Death Act (740 ILCS 180/1) and Survival Act (755 ILCS 5/27-6), negligent misrepresentation, negligent selection and retention of the resort, and fraud under the Illinois Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Trade Practices Act (815 ILCS 505/2). They accused Costco of cherry-picking glowing reviews while burying red flags from sites like TripAdvisor, and hyping a vague “Hotel Partners Safety Pledge” that masked RHA’s unreadiness.
Judge Perry wasn’t buying it. In her razor-sharp analysis, she invoked the Rule 12(b)(6) plausibility bar from Twombly and Iqbal, dissecting proximate cause: cause-in-fact (a substantial factor) and legal cause (foreseeable result). Costco’s alleged sins—puffing up RHA as “high-quality” and COVID-secure—merely parked the family there, she ruled, but the “subsequent, independent act” of the head-striking guest, plus RHA’s botched response, broke the chain. “Costco’s conduct may have been the reason I.N. was at RHA, but it was the unknown third party who struck I.N. in the head that directly caused I.N.’s subsequent drowning,” Perry wrote, quoting Abrams v. City of Chicago for the principle that negligence furnishing a mere “condition” for injury isn’t enough.
On misrepresentation, the judge torched the claims as non-factual puffery—”opinions on quality,” not hard lies—especially since the safety pledge zeroed in on pandemic protocols, not pool hazards. Reliance? Shaky at best: By day two, the parents had clocked the resort’s disarray and could eyeball the tub’s risks better than Costco ever could. No agency tied Costco to RHA for selection/retention claims, Perry added, echoing a prior ruling. Fraud? Same causation killer. She swatted away plaintiff-cited precedents like Giampietro v. Viator, where agents faced heat for direct meddling, underscoring that “travel agents are not generally liable for the negligence or dangerous conditions of third-party hotel or travel operators.”
The bench’s gavel drop drew swift echoes online. Law.com’s October 17 tweet on the ruling notched likes and reposts from legal pros, sparking sidebar chats on travel booking pitfalls. Broader expert takes align: Hospitality litigator Raymond Tabares of Polsinelli PC notes courts rarely pin agents for resort snafus absent “special circumstances” like ignored warnings, citing a 2000 Travel Weekly symposium where panelists stressed disclaimers as shields. “Agencies aren’t insurers of fun—they book the ticket, not babysit the beach,” Tabares opined in prior commentary.
For U.S. readers—especially Costco’s 130 million card-carrying deal-hunters—this verdict is a double-edged sword. On one hand, it shields bulk-bookers from endless liability traps, potentially keeping vacation packages affordable amid inflation’s bite (travel spending hit $1.2 trillion in 2024, per U.S. Travel Association). Lifestyle-wise, it nudges families toward self-vetting: Cross-check TripAdvisor, grill reps on safety add-ons, and pack that personal AED for peace of mind. Economically, it bolsters a $200 billion industry reliant on third-party tie-ups, but spotlights gaps in consumer protections—Illinois’ fraud act demands deception as a “substantial factor,” a high bar post-ruling. Politically, with Trump’s deregulatory bent eyeing tourism boosts, expect fewer suits but louder calls for federal travel warranties.
With the case sealed shut—no appeals likely after three strikes—the Nikolovskis’ fight pivots to Antigua’s courts against RHA directly. Perry’s words linger as a cautionary coda: In the pursuit of paradise, the devil’s in the details, not the discount. As global getaways rebound, this saga reminds: Your membership buys the dream, but diligence delivers the reality.
By Sam Michael
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