Baton Rouge Swimming Pool Accident Lawyer

Can You Sue for Swimming Pool Accidents?

Yes, victims or loved ones can sue for swimming pool accidents in Louisiana depending on the specifics of the situation.

Before suing a negligent party for damages, though, it’s important to know that there are a few different types of swimming pool accident lawsuits that you could file including: personal injury lawsuits, wrongful death lawsuits, and premises liability lawsuits. Our experienced team of lawyers explains the specifics of each type of lawsuit below.

Personal Injury Lawsuit

You could potentially file a personal injury lawsuit if a negligent party caused you to suffer a serious swimming pool injury or a near-drowning incident. In order to have a strong and successful personal injury case, near drowning victims must prove that the four following elements of negligence occurred.

• Duty of Care: The negligent party owed you (or your child) a duty of care to create a safe and supervised swimming pool.
• Breached Duty of Care: The negligent party breached this duty of care either through action or inaction.
• Causation: The negligent party directly caused your (or your child’s) injuries.
• Damages: Injured victims suffered a variety of damages for which they should receive fair compensation.

If you’re new to the world of civil lawsuits, proving these four elements of negligence probably sounds overwhelming, and you may not know where to begin. That’s why it’s so important to hire a Baton Rouge swimming pool accident lawyer at the Law Offices of Ossie Brown. We can listen to your story, determine whether you have grounds to take legal action, investigate the details of your claim, and gather sufficient evidence to prove that negligence occurred.

Wrongful Death Lawsuit

If a swimming pool drowning accident results in death, loved ones of the drowning victim could seek compensation through a wrongful death lawsuit. Wrongful death lawsuits are also based on the legal theory of negligence, just like personal injury lawsuits. Louisiana law states that the following people can file wrongful death lawsuits on behalf of deceased victims:

• Surviving spouse and/or children.
• If there is no spouse or child(ren), then surviving parents can file.
• If there are no surviving parents, then surviving siblings can file.
• Lastly, if there are no surviving siblings, then surviving grandparents can file.

Here is a swimming pool accident example that may warrant a wrongful death lawsuit:

A young child is swimming at a public pool that’s constantly supervised by trained lifeguards. The child’s mother left the child to go to the bathroom, trusting that the lifeguard on duty would handle any emergencies that happened in the few minutes she was gone.

The young child suddenly begins to drown, and the lifeguard on duty doesn’t notice for several minutes because they are distracted by their cell phone. By the time the mother gets back from the bathroom and the lifeguard notices the child is drowning, it’s too late. Despite rescue, CPR, and emergency room treatment, the child dies from their unintentional drowning. If the lifeguard had paid attention while on the job, the child could have been rescued and resuscitated in time. Therefore, the negligent lifeguard can be held liable through a wrongful death lawsuit.

A Baton Rouge drowning accident attorney at our law firm can fight for justice and fair compensation in situations like this.

Premises Liability Lawsuit

Lastly, injured victims may be able to file premises liability lawsuits if unsafe pool conditions caused their accident.

Both public and private swimming pools must be properly maintained by property owners. If not, the pool area can become unsafe due to broken diving boards, sharp pool edges, excessive pool chemicals, exposed pool equipment, debris on the pool deck, etc. Premises liability violations can also occur if a property owner doesn’t have trained lifeguards and duty and fail to warn visitors about this through “No Lifeguard on Duty” signage. If swimmers suffer any accidents, injuries, or deaths due to these premises liability violations, then the swimming pool owner can face legal action.