Personal Injury Claims for Swimming Pool Slip and Fall Accidents
Public swimming pools are a great place to cool off, swim laps, teach your kids to swim and to splash and play. But with water comes slippery surfaces and the risk of swimming pool slip and fall accidents and injuries. While it is expected that floors will be wet at public swimming facilities, it is the responsibility of the public swimming pool owner to take reasonable steps to try and prevent slip and fall accidents.
Steps that public pool owners should take to prevent swimming pool slip and fall accidents at their facilities
- Post signs and enforce no running policies.
- Surfaces including pool decks, locker room showers and walkways should be covered with slip-resistant material or coated with slip-resistant paint to give a reasonably high coefficient of friction so as not to be slippery when wet. This responsibility is true when the pool is built and over time as surfaces become worn and require maintenance, replacement or refinishing.
What are “duty of reasonable care” and “comparative fault” in swimming pool slip and fall accidents?
A “duty of reasonable care” and “comparative fault” are legal concepts commonly examined and used by personal injury attorneys when looking at a potential public pool slip and fall accident case.
The “duty of reasonable care” at a recreational pool facility falls on the property owner and encompasses the way the pool’s surfaces are designed, built and maintained. While a property owner is legally required to make their premises safe for potential visitors, the law does not hold property owners to a standard of “absolute safety.” Jurors will be asked to consider what was “reasonable under the circumstances” should the case go to trial.
Once negligence has been established as a cause of the injury, “comparative fault” is a concept used to compare the amount of fault of the property owner and/or the facility’s designer or construction company to the amount of fault of the injured person. For example, if the floor was poorly maintained but there was a slippery floor sign nearby the slip and fall location the injured person may still bear a percentage of responsibility for the fall.
Contact an experienced personal injury attorney if you have been injured in a slip and fall accident
If you or loved one has been injured in a slip and fall accident at a public recreational facility, it is in your interest to speak with an experienced personal injury attorney as soon as possible. He or she can look at the particulars of your accident, injury and damages and discuss your legal rights. Personal injury attorneys typically secure settlements more than five times higher than what a person could negotiate on their own and clients pay only a percentage of the settlement. Damages for slip and fall cases include medical bills, lost wages, pain and suffering and more.
If you or a loved one is dealing with an accident or injury through no fault of your own, you have enough on your plate. Let an experienced accident attorney fight for the full compensation that you deserve. It is not uncommon to receive a settlement from the insurance company that is five to ten times bigger with the help of a lawyer. Call the caring accident attorneys at Tario & Associates, P.S. in Bellingham, WA today for a FREE consultation! We have been representing residents of Whatcom County, Skagit County, Island County and Snohomish County since 1979. You will pay nothing up front and no attorney fees at all unless we recover damages for you!
