Just about everyone looks forward to summer, but no one greets the season of vacations, summer camps, amusement parks, and swimming with more excitement and anticipation than children. But, even the most well-informed and vigilant parents may fail to adequately prepare themselves for the dangers this season brings. Every year, children are injured or killed in sports, amusement park, and swimming accidents, and this year promises to be no exception. As of early July 2014, several children have already drowned in pools across the country, including those in New Jersey, Virginia, Oklahoma, and Arizona.
In one case, a child ventured outdoors without the parents’ knowledge and drowned in the family’s own pool. In another, a child drowned in a neighbor’s pool while the child and the child’s family were visiting the neighbor. A third child was thought to be safely occupied with another activity and wandered into her caretaker’s pool and drowned when the caretaker was not watching, and a fourth child drowned in the pool of a home being rented by the child’s parents.
What do these tragic accidents have in common? In each case, though no specific details have been released, the parents or caretakers of these children had almost surely taken the precautions they believed were necessary for their children’s safety. These parents’ belied assumptions only serve to underscore the importance of keeping the most careful watch over children whenever a pool or other body of water is nearby.
In some cases, however, a fatal or non-fatal drowning accident can occur as a result of a defective product (such as a pool drain) or someone’s negligence. Parents’ first priority when such a tragic accident occurs is to obtain medical care for their injured child. When medical and other bills related to a child’s injury begin to accumulate, however, parents are justified in seeking damages through legal action to pay for the costs of their child’s recovery and to compensate the child for the pain and suffering he or she has endured.
If your child has been injured or killed in a fatal or non-fatal drowning accident as a result of a defective product or someone’s negligence, you may be entitled to compensation from those responsible for your child’s injuries or death. Nationally-recognized child-injury lawyer Jeffrey Killino and his team of child-injury lawyers, child-accident lawyers, wrongful-death lawyers, child brain-injury lawyers, child pool-injury lawyers, and child drowning-accident lawyers have extensive experience with a great variety of child-injury cases, including those involving drowning and other pool injuries. Attorney Killino has dedicated his child-injury practice to achieving justice for children who have been injured through someone’s negligence or a defective product. Contact Attorney Killino and his highly experienced team of child-injury lawyers for expert assistance with your case.
Legal Liability for Children’s Pool Injuries
In so many cases, the drowning or other pool injury of a child occurs without the fault of the child’s parents. In a fraction of those cases, however, another party may have contributed to the child’s accident and resulting injuries. When this occurs, parents may be entitled to compensation through the institution of legal action against the responsible party or parties.
Premises Liability
Under the laws of most states, the owners of premises on which a person is injured may be held liable for the person’s injuries, under certain circumstances. The property owner’s liability generally depends upon the characterization of the particular individual who was injured. In most states, individuals who are not trespassing on an owner’s property (known as invitees and licensees) are owed somewhat varied duties of care by the property owner to keep them reasonably safe from harm while they are on the property. In many such states, the landowner does not owe such a duty of care to persons injured while trespassing on the owner’s property, though some of these states make exceptions to this rule when the trespasser was a child.
In three of the drowning cases mentioned above, the child drowned in a pool that was owned by someone other than the child’s parents. In one case, the child was a trespasser when the incident occurred. Thus, under most states’ laws, each of the owners of these pools may be found liable for the drowning deaths of these children if the negligence of these property owners is determined to have been a cause of the child’s injuries. A property owner may be found negligent, for instance, if the owner fails to comply with local regulations regarding the construction of fencing designed to prevent children from gaining access to a pool or fails to properly maintain such fencing.
Liability of Supervisor
If someone other than a child’s parents has been entrusted with the responsibility to care for a child, that supervisor may be found liable for injuries sustained by the child if the supervisor’s negligence is found to have been a cause of the child’s injuries. Thus, a person in whose care a child has been entrusted may be liable for negligently failing to keep a proper watch on a child if such failure is determined to have been a cause of the child’s pool injuries or death.
Products Liability
The manufacturer as well as others in the chain of a product’s distribution may be found liable for injuries caused by the product’s defect. Defective pool drain caps and defective pool fence gates, for example, have been found in some cases to have been a cause of a child’s pool injuries or death.
Obtain Expert Assistance from Child-injury Attorney Jeffrey Killino
If your child has been injured or killed in a pool or other swimming accident as a result of someone’s negligence or a defective product, nationally-recognized child-injury attorney Jeffrey Killino will help you obtain the compensation to which you and your family are entitled. Attorney Killino and his team of child-injury attorneys, child-accident attorneys, child brain-injury attorneys, wrongful-death attorneys, child pool-injury attorneys, and child drowning-accident attorneys will provide you with expert assistance in seeking justice for your child’s injuries or death.
