In the moments after a swimming pool accident involving your child, you may experience a mix of fear, anger, or paralyzing shock. Faced with the unimaginable, you must decide your next steps.
Holding a property owner accountable after a drowning incident in a pool is about making sure the next parent does not have to feel the same pain. At Burnett Injury Group, we are experienced in handling swimming pool drowning lawsuits in Annapolis. Our compassionate premises liability attorneys can offer you our dedication and compassion in the pursuit of justice for your family.
Premises liability is a type of personal injury claim that arises when a condition on a property is unsafe. To pursue a claim for a drowning incident, you must prove a pool owner breached a duty to keep the property safe, causing you or your loved ones harm. The pool owner’s level of responsibility depends on the nature of your presence on the property.
If you or your family were members of a private swim club or guests at a hotel pool, the owner invited you onto the property for a business purpose and owes you the highest duty of care to inspect the area and either fix or warn you of any unreasonable risks.
If you were a social guest on a pool owner’s property, the owner still has a duty to warn you of known dangerous conditions. In the case of trespassers, property owners generally do not owe a duty except to refrain from causing intentional or cruel injuries.
A pool owner in Annapolis can be held responsible for child drownings, even in the case of trespass, if the pool owner violated a specific safety standard created to protect children from dangers they cannot fully understand. Pursuant to the Code of Maryland Regulations § 10.17.01.21, hotel owners must have six-foot barriers, protective walls, and self-closing gates around their pools. For residential pool owners, similar regulations establish certain fence, wall, and gate requirements under the Anne Arundel County Property Maintenance Code. Even if your child was not technically invited to swim, a lawyer can use these state and local regulations as evidence of negligence to confirm a duty of care.
Unlike most other states, Maryland follows a strict doctrine of contributory negligence. This rule bars you from recovering damages if you contributed even slightly to the accident. As a result, the pool owner’s insurance adjusters may try to deny your claim by using evidence to demonstrate that you contributed to your injury. An experienced Annapolis pool drowning lawyer acts as your shield against these tactics. At Burnett Injury Group, we know how to frame the facts to prove the property owner’s failure contributed to the accident, protecting your right to recovery from a legal system that can be incredibly unforgiving.
Compensation recoverable for a swimming pool drowning accident includes economic damages for current and future medical costs and non-economic damages for emotional trauma, including pain and suffering. If your loved one survived but suffered a brain injury due to lack of oxygen, this may warrant lifelong specialized care. This means you can, and should, seek the full amount required to provide them with the best possible future.
Swimming pool drowning lawsuits in Annapolis aim to deter a negligent property owner from repeating careless conduct in the future. By pursuing litigation, you are not only helping your family recover but are saving countless other families from unspoken dangers and unspeakable grief.
Call Burnett Injury Group today for a free consultation to learn more about how we can help.