The owner of a Penn Hills pool where a man drowned during a nudist party two years ago said yesterday that she had a 23-year agreement with the nudists under which they would supply their own lifeguards.

The family of Ronald E. Daugherty sued Olympic Swim and Health Club this week in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court, saying the facility violated state law by not providing a lifeguard for a party held by the West Penn Naturist nudist club.

Mr. Daugherty, a 72-year-old retiree from Greensburg, drowned on April 14, 2007.

His death went unnoticed in the media, although the medical examiner's office and Penn Hills police investigated.

The cause of death was ruled accidental.

Mr. Daugherty's widow, Barbara Daugherty of Greensburg, said pool owner Mary Sullivan should have provided a lifeguard under the state Public Bathing Law.

But Ms. Sullivan said the West Penn club, which holds four-hour parties at the pool every other Saturday night, signed a waiver in 1984 indicating that it would take full responsibility for all activity during its events.

Ms. Sullivan said she rents the pool to the group for $200 and gives the group total control, locking down the facility and letting members paper the windows for privacy.

"I turned it completely over to them," she said. "I was assured they had a lifeguard."

But Mrs. Daugherty's lawyer said assurances and waivers don't matter in the eyes of the Pennsylvania Code.

"It's not relevant," said Michael Rosenzweig, who filed the suit on behalf of Mrs. Daugherty and her three children. "The law says you need to provide a lifeguard."

Ms. Sullivan's insurance company would pay any damages should Mrs. Daugherty win the case.

Mr. Rosenzweig said the two parties have been negotiating a settlement for the last two years, although Ms. Sullivan said she told her insurance carrier to "fight tooth and nail.

Mr. Rosenzweig said Mr. Daugherty was swimming with many other people when the incident occurred.

"No one noticed him go under," he said. "They found him [on the bottom] and he could not be revived." Ms. Sullivan said Mr. Daugherty drowned in 5 feet of water after entering the pool from the sauna.

Mrs. Daugherty is demanding payment for loss of her husband's earning capacity and damages for his pain and suffering, among other claims.

The complaint also states that Ms. Sullivan had a "long-standing practice of permitting members of the public to swim unguarded."

But not anymore.

Since she first received notice two years ago that a suit was in the works, Ms. Sullivan said she has supplied a lifeguard for West Penn Naturist parties and charges the colony an extra $50 for the service.