Swimming Pool Accident Attorney In Hartford, CT
Swimming pools can be sources of endless summer fun. However, if not properly maintained and secured, they can also pose a serious danger to users. If you’ve been injured in a public or private pool, you can hire a Hartford swimming pool accident lawyer to recover compensation.
Trust Williams, Walsh & O’Connor, LLC
Williams, Walsh & O’Connor, LLC, has over 150 years of combined experience. Throughout our time in practice, we’ve developed a keen understanding of swimming pool accident laws and how they can be leveraged to help our clients get paid. If you’ve been injured in a pool accident, don’t accept an offer from the responsible party’s insurance company until you consult one of our attorneys.
Why Hire a Swimming Pool Accident Lawyer?
Drownings are relatively rare in Connecticut, having decreased from 28 to 20 over the four years approaching 2024. Nationwide, they’re still the number one cause of death for children ages one through four, though, with 71% of them happening in private residences. Drownings are only a worst-case scenario. Many less serious pool accidents occur in and around private and public pools, such as the Goodwin Park Pool, each year.
You may have lost a child or another family member to drowning. Perhaps you’ve slipped and fallen, causing yourself serious injuries like head injuries or broken bones. In either case, you may be eligible to recover compensation from the property owner if you hire a swimming pool accident lawyer. Your lawyer can handle everything, from determining whether you have a valid claim to negotiating a settlement on your behalf with the responsible party’s insurance company.
Dangers of Swimming Pools
Children can get hurt in pools, even when they are being supervised. Injuries can occur at:
- Public wading pools
- Spas
- Full-size swimming pools
Because of their drains, these pools pose the largest threat of entrapment. Property owners must exercise reasonable care regarding their pools’ drain maintenance, and parents should keep watch over their children when they are using these types of facilities. In addition to drain injuries, these can cause additional harm:
- Electrical defects
- Slippery decks
- Unsafe pool toys
- Pool slides or diving boards
- Ladders or stairs
It doesn’t matter whether you were in the water when your injury occurred. If it happened in the immediate vicinity of a pool, you should work with a Hartford swimming pool accident attorney.
Private Pools and the Attractive Nuisance Doctrine
In most cases, property owners aren’t liable for injuries that occur to people who are trespassing on their properties. Pools are an exception. The attractive nuisance doctrine is a legal principle that creates a duty of care for property owners, requiring them to keep children safe in areas that might be enticing to them as a location for trespass. Covering the pool or installing a gated fence can prevent children from accessing these areas unsupervised.
Ensuring Pool Safety
Property owners also need to make sure their pools are safe for use by children and adults who are allowed to use them. They should:
- Keep electronics and power cords away from the pool.
- Warn guests about slippery decks.
- Keep pool toys from creating a tripping hazard on the decks.
If you were invited to use a pool and one of these issues caused you to be injured, the property owner could be held liable.
Swimming Pool Accident Damages
If the property owner was found to be at fault for your injury, you could be entitled to compensation in the form of damages. Depending on the severity of and circumstances surrounding your injury, they could include:
- Hospital bills
- Future medical expenses
- Lost wages
- Loss of future earning capacity
- Pain and suffering
- Loss of enjoyment
- Other non-economic damages
Your lawyer can identify all the potential damages to which you may be entitled prior to filing your claim.
FAQs
What Type of Liability Would a Person With a Swimming Pool Have?
The type of liability a person with a swimming pool would have is premises liability. Property owners are legally liable for injuries that occur on their properties due to unsafe conditions, which could be the case if the pool was not adequately secured. The pool owner could also be liable if the decks were slippery and there was no warning posted or given.
What Is the Negligence Rule in CT?
The negligence rule in Connecticut is that the state follows modified comparative negligence statutes. That means you can still file a claim against someone who is responsible for your injuries, even if you hold some of the blame. As long as you are less than 50% at fault, you can still recover compensation in Connecticut.
How Long After an Accident Can You File a Claim in Connecticut?
You can file a claim up to two years after an accident in Connecticut. If you slip and fall on a slippery pool deck or become injured falling into a pool because it was inadequately secured, you should still contact a Hartford swimming pool attorney right away. It makes more sense to file your claim as soon as possible, while the details are still clear, than it does to wait until the statute of limitations is close to expiring.
What Four Facts Need to Be Proven to Establish Negligence?
The four facts that need to be proven to establish negligence are duty of care, breach of duty, causation, and damages. You must show that the person owed you a duty of care as a property owner to keep their pool secured and safe, that they breached that duty, and that the property owner’s actions led directly to actual harm to you as the claimant.
Your Hartford Swimming Pool Accident Lawyer
If you’ve been injured while swimming on someone else’s property, it doesn’t matter whether the pool was private or public. You can hold the owner accountable through the work of a Hartford swimming pool accident lawyer. The team here at Williams, Walsh & O’Connor, LLC,
can represent your swimming pool accident case. We have the necessary experience and negotiating skills required to get you fairly compensated. Contact us to schedule an initial consultation today.
