Who can you hold responsible for a slip-and-fall accident at a pool or spa? Doesn’t matter whether the spot or pool is privately owned or publicly operated? You may find yourself asking all of these questions should you fall victim to someone else’s negligence while trying to kick up your feet and relax.
Fortunately, you don’t have to deal with the civil system on your own. You can collaborate with an accident attorney to determine who bears the responsibility for your slip-and-fall. The Law Office of Cohen & Jaffe, LLP can then help you fight for the financial support you need to recover in or out of court.
Duty of Care at the Pool
Whether you’re out at a public pool or at a private spa, the people you’re interacting with have an obligation they must uphold. These parties must work to prevent you from falling victim to reasonable and predictable harm. Legal professionals refer to this responsibility as another party’s “duty of care.”
For example, the people who own a pool have a duty to keep you and your children safe by providing safety equipment and keeping the landscaping around the pool as safe as possible. Spa managers must perform regular health and safety checks to uphold the duty they owe to customers.
Failure to uphold this duty in any setting can see a liable party assume responsibility for an injured party’s recovery.
Assigning Liability After a Fall at a Pool or Spa
You can’t automatically move a slip-and-fall accident case forward after an accident at a public pool or spa. You have an obligation to prove that the landowner or staff violated the duty of care owed to you or your child. Doing so requires you to bring forward evidence of the negligence liable parties engaged in.
That evidence can include video footage of your fall, statements from witnesses, and biological samples from the institution in question. Any medical professionals who helped you recover may also have the chance to lend their expert testimony to your case.
Can Qualified Immunity Impact Your Slip-And-Fall Accident Case?
The term “qualified immunity” describes a legal allowance offered to government officials and related property. “Qualified immunity” can prevent some parties from taking legal action against those government officials or related entities.
If you get into an accident at a government-owned pool or spa, the owners of that entity may benefit from qualified immunity. For example, public pools owned and operated by a city may have some protections against lawsuits from parents whose children slipped and fell during operating hours.
You can work with a slip-and-fall accident attorney to determine whether or not the public pool owners involved in your case benefit from this kind of government support. Our team can help you work around qualified immunity should it come into play in your case.
Can Trespassers Sue After a Poolside Slip-And-Fall Accident?
There are rare instances wherein trespassers may have the right to sue pool owners for slip-and-fall accidents. Pools, after all, tend to attract children of all ages. Most of the time, children benefit from the attractive nuisance doctrine. This doctrine states that landowners have an obligation to continually maintain their land in an effort to protect trespassing children.
In other words, the parents of a child who trespassed on pool property and slipped may still sue that pool owner for negligence. Parents have an obligation, however, to prove that the harm that befell their child resulted from an inherent flaw in the pool’s surroundings. If the danger to the child is unreasonable, parents may receive damages from the landowner.
Learn More About Your Right to a Slip-And-Fall Accident Case Today
There are several parties that can assume liability for accidents at pools and spas. It does not matter whether you get into an accident at a private or public pool. It’s worth your while to reach out to a personal injury attorney to discuss who you might hold financially accountable for your property.
The Law Office of Cohen & Jaffe, LLP can help outline your right to support before you take your claim and file it with a judge. We can help you secure a fair settlement out of court or prepare to go to a bench or jury trial. Your first case evaluation with our team comes free of charge and lets you learn more about how we assign liability for slip-and-fall accidents at pools and cells.
Call (516) 358-6900 or reach out to our team online for more information.
