Who is Liable for Swimming Pool Injury and Death in Massachusetts?

Swimming pools allow New Englanders to have fun and relax during the summer. However, you might not know what to do next if you were injured or had a loved one die in another person’s pool.

Our attorneys have handled swimming pool accidents for years and can help you get compensation from those responsible for your losses. Even if you were partially at fault or signed a waiver before using the pool, our team can still help you file a claim against a negligent pool owner. In some cases, this might mean suing a neighbor or family friend for failing to watch out for your children while using their pool. In more complex cases, we can help you file a lawsuit against a private business, like a water park or swim club. We can also determine if your injuries happened at a public pool and sue the government entity liable for its safety.

Call the Law Office of John J. Sheehan at (617) 925-6407 for a free case review with our Boston personal injury lawyers.

Who Can Be Held Liable for a Swimming Pool Accident Involving Injuries or Death in Massachusetts?

As the summer marches on and the temperature rises, swimming pools and water parks become popular spots to escape the heat. Unfortunately, swimming pool injuries and deaths also increase around this time. Suppose you or your child were injured while at another person’s pool or at a public one. You will likely wonder who you can sue for your damages. In some cases, you might need to sue for relatively minor injuries, like sprains and fractures, that can still cause extensive losses. In more serious cases, you will need to file a claim for a drowning accident, which the victim might or might not have survived.

Regardless of the nature of your accident, our Massachusetts swimming pool injury attorneys can help identify the person or business responsible for your injuries and file a lawsuit to make them pay. Our team can handle claims against homeowners with pools to more complex cases involving water parks and publicly-operated pools. The following parties are most likely to be liable for a swimming pool accident, depending on where it occurs in Massachusetts:

Homeowners

Many swimming pool injuries and deaths happen in the backyards of Massachusetts homeowners. When someone has a pool in their backyard, they are responsible for the safety of anyone using it. Thus, if you drop off your child at a friend’s house to go swimming, the homeowner will be liable for supervising the children at the pool and making sure they are safe.

However, injuries and drownings can happen faster than people think. If the adult in charge stepped out for a minute or two and an accident happened while away, the homeowner would be responsible. These accidents can also happen if a child wanders into the pool area from the house and falls in because the homeowner did not secure the area.

Homeowners with pools need to take protective measures to prevent accidents from occurring. Homeowners can even be liable if a trespasser is injured in their pool under the “attractive nuisance” rule. According to this doctrine, people with backyard pools need to secure them with pool covers or fence the pool in to prevent trespassers—usually neighborhood children—from being injured because it is reasonable to expect someone might try to use the pool without permission.

Public Pool Operators

Many other swimming pool accidents happen at public community pools. These pools are typically operated by a local municipality. Thus, if you need to file a lawsuit for injuries at a public pool, you will need to sue the government agency responsible for the pool’s safety. In some cases, this might be the city government itself or one of its subsidiaries, like the Parks and Recreation Department.

However, suing a public pool typically involves additional challenges that are not a concern in other cases. You often have less time to file a lawsuit against a government agency, which requires you to give the entity notice of your claim before it is filed. The amount of damages you can recover might also be capped, depending on how much you are trying to recover. Our team can review your accident to determine if these issues will present difficulties in your case and how to overcome them.

Water Parks

Water parks can be incredibly fun in the summer. But, with other careless patrons around and inherently dangerous attractions like wave pools and splash pads, injuries and deaths at water parks happen often. Of course, you have a certain amount of responsibility for your own safety and that of your children at a water park, but that does not excuse a water park’s negligence.

Water parks should have signs directing how to be safe while on a particular attraction. They should also have lifeguards on each ride, supervising swimmers at all times. In some cases, a water park might have you sign a waiver of liability. With a waiver, you agree to assume the risks involved in order to gain access to the park. Fortunately, these waivers rarely stand up to legal challenges and will usually not protect the water park from its negligent conduct in court.

Swim Clubs

If you were injured at a private pool, like a swim club or gym, you could typically file a lawsuit against the business that operates the pool. However, many of these businesses require a membership to use their facilities, and these memberships contain conditions that attempt to limit the business’s liability. Fortunately, boilerplate conditions in a membership agreement are usually not enough to prevent you from filing a lawsuit.

Businesses and property owners have a duty to make their premises safe. For public policy reasons, the law does not allow these entities to contract away their responsibilities. Thus, you can file a lawsuit in most cases, even if your membership agreement states you cannot.

Lifeguards

In most of the examples above, lifeguards will usually be on duty. When our team reviews your case, we will also determine whether the lifeguard should be named as a defendant. In some instances, the lifeguard might not be liable if they did not have an actual duty to intervene. Once they do act, though, they must act reasonably when caring for the victim. If the lifeguard does something to injure the victim further, they can be held liable for their portion of the injuries. If the lifeguards are actively involved with pool operations, suing them might be less challenging.

Other Swimmers

Many swimming accident lawsuits seek compensation from other swimmers. Drowning accidents can easily happen when horseplay gets out of hand, or someone is pushed into the pool and hits the concrete. Our team can file a claim against the other swimmer and also determine if another party should be held liable.