Terril Johnson, a 77-year-old U.S. Marine Corps veteran, drove six hours from Los Angeles this spring to see his gymnast granddaughter graduate from San Jose State University, but a lawsuit by his family claims he died in a San Jose hotel, “effectively boiled alive” in a hot shower.

“He died the night before the graduation,” said his son Terril Johnson II, of Riverside. Johnson had been “ecstatic” at the prospect of seeing his granddaughter Trinity Johnson receive her management degree, his son said.

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The elder Johnson’s grandson, Deshun Johnson, found him lying partially submerged and unresponsive in the bathtub of the shower at the Fairfield Inn & Suites beside Mineta San Jose International Airport on May 22, with superheated water still running, according to the lawsuit filed last week in Santa Clara County Superior Court. Also present were Johnson’s son, daughter-in-law and three granddaughters, including Trinity, who was to graduate the next day from San Jose State, where she had spent four years on the school’s NCAA Division 1 gymnastics team.

“When family members rushed to assist, the water was so dangerously hot they could not initially lift him from the tub,” the wrongful-death lawsuit said. “As they struggled desperately to save him, they were forced to watch in horror as his skin peeled away from his body.”

The lawsuit, which seeks unspecified damages, accuses Marriott International, the hotel owner, of operating a water-heating system that “posed a lethal hazard.”

Marriott did not respond to requests for comment.

The lawsuit said the shower doused Johnson with water heated to around 135 degrees, far above the legal maximum of 120 degrees under California’s Plumbing Code. “Exposure to water at such temperatures is known to cause third-degree burns within seconds,” said the lawsuit said, without citing a source for that assertion. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission reports that people can suffer third-degree burns from a six-second exposure to 140-degree water or a 30-second exposure to 130-degree water. Five minutes at 120 degrees could cause third-degree burns, the commission said.

The Santa Clara County coroner’s office determined Johnson’s death was caused by “severe scalding burns” to his neck, torso and extremities, combined with a health condition of high blood pressure. It was unclear why Johnson, 72, was unable to escape the shower, or whether his health condition played a role in his inability to get away from the hot water, or exactly how long he was in the shower before his grandson discovered him. Deshun found his grandfather “within minutes” of Johnson’s entry into the shower, the lawsuit said.

Johnson had retired in August 2024 after more than two decades with the Los Angeles Metro transportation agency, where he had become “one of the top guys real quick,” and as a senior lead technician oversaw a large facility in downtown Los Angeles, his son said.

“He was just a fun-loving person,” he said. “He enjoyed life.”

Johnson’s encouragement and support played a major role in the successes of Trinity, and her older sister Heaven Johnson who is in her second year of law school, he said.

“He talked to the girls on the phone every day,” he said. “They were his joy in the world.”

According to San Jose State, Trinity Johnson graduated this past spring, with a management degree. She is now in her first year of law school at Thomas Jefferson School of Law in San Diego, where her sister Heaven is in her second year, Johnson said.

The elder Johnson and his widow Linda, high school sweethearts, were married for 54 years.

The incident, the lawsuit said, left Johnson’s family members with post-traumatic stress disorder and recurring nightmares.

“I have dreams that my dad really didn’t die, that he was just burned really bad,” his son said. “I visit him in the hospital and he’s all covered in gauze.”