Swimming Pool Accident Attorney Discusses Swimming Pool Drowning Accidents
The cool, refreshing shimmering waters in backyard swimming pools summon sweat-soaked Texans out of the roiling summer sun and into their refreshing liquid cocoons. Multitudes of Texas homeowners and apartment dwellers enjoy these aquatic oases.
However, these havens of H2O renewal and relaxation can become harbingers of pain and suffering if improper supervision and pool maintenance occur. Apartment complex pools, city or community pools and backyard pools are the sites of swimming pool drownings and accidents resulting in severe injury or even death. If you or a loved one has experienced injury or death in any of the places mentioned above, you may want to file a lawsuit to seek restitution through monetary compensation and to dispense justice on the liable parties. Our swimming pool drowning and accident attorney, with over two decades of experience in personal injury and wrongful death litigation, can help you in the aftermath of a swimming pool accident or tragedy.
How Do Swimming Pool Accidents Take Place?
Swimming pool accidents happen primarily because of a lack of supervision. We all know horror stories of children drowning in an accident that happened in the twinkling of an eye. The speed at which drowning accidents occur is astounding—they afford little mercy or room for error, it seems. Just a brief lapse in monitoring minors can result in tragedy. The negligent party may have either been an adult supervising or a lifeguard.
Even when a child is rescued from a fatal drowning accident, lifelong debilitating medical conditions can remain, caused by a lack of oxygen to the child’s brain while they were submerged under the water. These type of injuries that change a child’s life also places severe financial stress and economic hardship upon the family to provide the needed medical care. Then, the horrific grief suffered by a family over the loss of their child in a fatal pool accident can be debilitating. In each situation, the grieving family can seek compensation for their loss. Obviously, no amount of money can compensate a family for the loss of their child, yet it can provide much needed economic relief from costly medical expenses and other damages that are incurred.
Inadequate pool maintenance is another reason pool accidents happen so often. Keeping pools safe and functioning properly requires a lot of maintenance and upkeep. Murky water, pool equipment inadequately maintained and defective pool drains can all contribute to pool accidents. If the pool is not maintained correctly and an injury or fatal pool accident occurs, the injured victim or family member can file a personal injury lawsuit or wrongful death lawsuit for compensation against the liable party charged with neglectful pool maintenance.
Lastly, some swimming pool accidents occur because of faulty or defective equipment, like a malfunctioning pool gate, a damaged diving board, or a faulty pool drain. Sometimes, the manufacturer of that part or device may be held liable for the injury or death. In other instances, the party responsible for the maintenance of the part so that it functions correctly can be held liable. Determining that specific liability can be challenging, and require an experienced drowning accident lawyer to untangle the causes of the accident so that each responsible party can be held accountable for their contribution to the accident.
The pool owner has a legal duty to share with guests any potential dangers or risks the use of the pool may create—this implicit duty as a pool owner is found under Texas law regarding premise liability.
Texas Premise Liability in Relation to Pool Accidents
Premise liability law concerns instances where someone sustains an injury or is killed while they are on someone else’s property. The majority of pool accidents occur when someone is visiting another individual’s home or property. In this scenario, that property owner has a specific legal duty toward their guests, depending on how the guest is designated:
A person who knowingly and willingly visits a property for the mutual benefit of both property owner and visitor is termed an invitee.
A person that knowingly and willingly visits a property for their own benefit is refereed to as a licensee. For example, a friend visiting a friend’s house would be termed a licensee.
The term trespasser is given to a person that knowingly and willingly enters a property without permission of the property owner. A burglar would be considered a trespasser, for example.
For the great majority of pool accidents in Texas, the victim is considered a licensee. Consequently, the property owner has a legal duty to warn their visitors about any previously existing risky conditions and to not intentionally cause injury to their visitor; basically, the pool owner must be pro-active in watching out for the safety of those individuals using their pool. In the event of a fatal drowning accident, the pool owner could be held civilly liable for a victim’s death. The plaintiff, in this scenario, would seek compensation through a wrongful death lawsuit.
The Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act
The Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act is a federal law that was enacted to prevent entrapment injuries or entrapment deaths from taking place in swimming pools and spas at educational facilities, apartments, and public places. It became effective in late 2008 and requires these pools and spas to use approved anti-entrapment drain covers. Texas law applies to these pools and spas too, because the states requirements meet or exceed the federal requirements.
Filing a Drowning Accident Lawsuit
Our Law Offices swimming pool drowning and accident attorneys can assist you in seeking compensation for the injury and expenses you’ve accrued, if your child experienced an injury in a pool drowning accident in Texas. Many serious medical conditions arise from pool injuries. These conditions can seriously impact your child and lead to mounting medical expenses you would be required to pay for their ongoing care and rehabilitation.
Our swimming pool drowning attorneys can help you hold the responsible parties accountable for their behavior, if your child died from a swimming pool accident. Our attorneys will identify all responsible parties to punish them for their negligent actions and to make sure another drowning doesn’t occur again. Obviously, no amount of money can resuscitate your child, yet monetary compensation for damages through a wrongful death suit can reimburse you for all funeral costs, medical expenses, and pain and suffering. Our swimming pool drowning lawyer has over twenty years of experience handling these wrongful death cases and has helped hundred of families seek compensation and witness the responsible party receive punishment for their negligence.
It’s critically important that the parents or guardians contact an attorney immediately after a drowning accident. If faulty parts or inadequate maintenance contributed to the accident, the faulty part may strangely be fixed before an investigation can be undertaken, and you may not be able to prove the faulty part played a role in the accident. If negligent supervision was an issue, the liable party may lie about their actions or inaction. Witnesses important to your case, can suddenly disappear, and the statute of limitations in Texas on wrongful death cases is only 24 months from the date of injury or death. It is not a wise choice to delay or postpone the process of seeking compensation and justice from a liable party.
Our swimming pool drowning attorney is available to help you pursue compensation and justice for your child’s drowning injury or death. We will walk with you through this very emotionally difficult time in your life, and make sure all liable parties are held accountable for their negligent behavior or actions.
Contact our swimming pool drowning and accident lawyer for a free consultation. We can answer your specific questions about your case, and will share all potential legal options so you can make an informed decision about your future.
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