According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), there are thousands of drownings in the United States each year, including Colorado. A large percentage of those victims are under the age of 15. If a person survives, the lack of oxygen from being underwater for so long can cause permanent brain damage and subsequent disabilities. Premise liability, personal injury, and/or wrongful death claims may be pursued in some cases.
At Nares Law Group, our personal injury lawyer in Colorado handles these very sensitive cases. If you or a loved one has suffered, you can get financial relief to help with the expenses arising out of this type of accident. Call Nares Law Group today at 720-637-7786 to schedule a Free Consultation.
Critical to any drowning case is proving liability for the injury or wrongful death. Liability can rest with many different people or entities, depending on the facts and circumstances as well as the theory behind the lawsuit. The liable party could be a neighbor who failed to fence their pool or a private entity (e.g. waterpark owner) who failed to adequately hire and train employees. It could even be a babysitter agency that provided a babysitter who failed to supervise a young child in the bathtub.
Generally, civil cases for drowning arise out of premises liability, negligence per se, and/or product liability legal theories.
Liability under the premises liability theory often falls into three categories that define the type of injured party.
That legal duty to keep visitors safe extends to public beaches and parks, as well. In these situations where the property is public and not private, procedural hurdles must be overcome before filing a lawsuit against a government entity.
Negligence per se is the theory that a person or entity is automatically deemed negligent for breaking a law or rule and someone gets hurt because of it. In these cases, however, the harm must have been foreseeable or what the law was meant to prevent.
At a recreational park, if regulations are not followed and a violation leads to drowning, the violation could be enough to support a negligence per se claim.
Pools, jacuzzis, bathtubs, and all other similar and related products can be the subject of a product liability claim if there was a defect in the product and that defect led to or created a hazardous situation. As a result of the defect, a victim drowned. Three types of defects could exist: a defect in the design of the product, a defect in the making of the product, or a defect in advertising where adequate warnings of the possibility of drowning were not provided.
Compensation is dependent on who is to be compensated: a survivor of a drowning or the loved ones of a drowning victim who did not survive. In general, there are two types of compensation: economic and non-economic.
You can expect to be reimbursed for any and all medical bills (past, present, future), transportation costs, lost wages, and loss of earning income. Economic damages are relatively easy to determine, but you want to keep track of all expenses and costs related to the injury. If it’s a wrongful death claim, you may also recover expenses like funeral costs.
You can receive non-economic damages for things like but not limited to pain and suffering, mental distress, loss of enjoyment, and loss of consortium. Non-economic damages are not easily quantifiable. To calculate roughly what non-economic damages could be worth, you should consider the sum of economic damages, the extent and severity of the injury, the injury’s permanence, and/or the extent and impact of the loved one’s death on surviving family members.
If a victim dies from drowning, the victims’ family may be able to bring a wrongful death lawsuit against the at-fault party. Potential families members who could bring the lawsuit include immediate family members, like:
When a drowning victim survives but lives in a vegetative state, the power of attorney may sue on the victim’s behalf. The power of attorney, if not already designated in an estate plan, is typically the victim’s spouse or closest relative.
Typically, compensation is paid out through the insurance company. It could be the property insurance of the business or it could be homeowner’s insurance. Sometimes, these insurance companies or insurance adjusters will refuse to settle. If they do, then a personal injury lawyer can take the case to trial and force them to pay.
Defendants often fight lawsuits, especially when it involves an insurance company. They will try to blame the victim and will invoke defenses like:
Because insurance companies will hit hard with their defenses, it is important to retain a personal injury or wrongful death lawyer who can properly and adequately address and counter any defense invoked by the defendant.
At Nares Law Group, we want to make sure you get the compensation you deserve. Drowning accidents can be very traumatic. Death often results. The trauma it causes to loved ones is exponential. Contact us today at 720-637-7786 to schedule a Free Consultation with someone who can help you during this difficult time.
