A wrongful death lawsuit has been filed against Excalibur Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas following the drowning death of Paul Nakashima, a 60-year-old Canadian visitor, in June 2023.

Nakashima, from Burnaby, British Columbia, was celebrating his birthday when he reportedly slipped and hit his head in a shallow section of the casino's pool. According to the lawsuit, the on-duty lifeguard failed to monitor Nakashima after the incident. Other guests discovered him floating underwater around 4:20 pm and alerted the lifeguard.

Despite immediate CPR attempts by a guest and emergency response efforts, Nakashima was pronounced dead at Spring Valley Hospital Medical Center. Doctors reported he had been oxygen-deprived for approximately 45 minutes.

The estate and Nakashima's sisters are seeking $15,000 in damages, claiming New Castle, LLC (doing business as Excalibur) failed to properly train lifeguards according to Southern Nevada Health District regulations and provided inadequate emergency response.

The incident occurred at the Excalibur Court Pool, one of four pools in the casino's outdoor pool area. Nakashima, who worked as a security officer at the Vancouver Convention Center, was known for his love of poker and traveling to destinations including Las Vegas, Hawaii, and Mexico.

According to the National Drowning Prevention Alliance, the United States records over 4,500 unintentional drowning deaths annually. Nevada's drowning death rate of 1.45 per 100,000 people exceeds the national average of 1.31. Adult pool drownings typically result from slip-and-fall accidents, medical emergencies, or substance impairment.

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