Is Tommy Lee at fault for the drowning of a little boy in his pool at Tommy's son's birthday party? A very interesting torts question. Each kid was supposed to have their own adult supervision. The decedent child was brought by a caretaker, who left the party and left the child in the care of another caretaker. As far as that goes, I don't see it as Tommy's fault; it's the caretaker who has now disappeared or the substitute caretaker who should be held to account.

Where Tommy may be in some trouble is over the apparent fact that there was only one life preserver, which his own son was wearing. My guess is that the jury will assess some percentage of fault for (1) making the pool available to the kids, and (2) not having enough flotation jackets for all the anticipated child swimmers.

UPDATE: Here's an interview with Tommy from March 2002. This article alleges that it was Tommy's caretaker who was not watching the deceased child. Uh oh for Tommy, if that's the case.

But, we should all feel better, since Tommy has taken strong steps to prevent it happening again: ""I had a very good friend of mine come by and set up a cleansing. We drained the pool; we blessed the new waters and my sons were part of it."

Sheesh.