Swimming Pool Hazards Affecting Children & Potentially Leading to Lawsuits
Children of all ages enjoy playing in water, and pools may attract them when they are not under adult supervision. Parents should take certain precautions to protect children from drowning risks and other safety hazards associated with a pool in their backyard. Most importantly, they should fence off the pool from their home so that a child cannot wander there without parents noticing. This is the best strategy to prevent a drowning incident. A fence should be at least four feet high and completely surround the pool. Vertical slats in the fence must be close together so that children cannot slip between them. The latch on the gate to the pool should be above the reach of a small child, and the gate always should be locked when the pool is not used. Parents should keep objects away from the fence so that a child cannot use them to climb over it.
In addition to installing a fence, parents might consider putting alarms around the pool, although these do not obviate the need for a fence. They also might want to install window guards on windows that face the pool so that a child does not jump or fall from a window into the pool. Doors leading from the house to the pool should be kept locked. Parents should use a pool cover that completely covers the pool. Standing water on top of a pool cover may present its own hazard and should be monitored.
Legal Claims Based on Swimming Pool Accidents
Installing proper safety features and monitoring a child near a pool does not completely prevent the risk of injuries. Some swimming pool accidents arise from defective pool features, equipment, or other products used in or near the pool. When a child is injured because a product contained a defect, parents may have a product liability claim against the manufacturer or any other entity in the chain of distribution. They would need to show that the defect caused their child’s injuries, although they probably would not need to show that the defendant failed to meet a particular standard of care.
If parents hold a company liable for their child’s injuries, they likely can recover compensation for the resulting economic and non-economic harm. Common forms of damages in these cases include medical bills, other out-of-pocket costs, and the pain and suffering and emotional distress that the child endured.
Suing a Homeowner for a Swimming Pool Accident
Although the majority of swimming pool accidents occur at home, some accidents occur when children visit other people. If parents drop off their child at someone else’s house, and their child is injured at the pool there, they may have a claim against the homeowner. These cases fall within an area of law known as premises liability. Homeowners must take reasonable steps to protect the safety of people on their property. If a homeowner knew or should have known that a child would be present, but they did not have safety features around the pool and did not supervise the child, they might be liable for any resulting injuries.
A homeowner generally does not need to take precautions to protect trespassers on their property, but some states apply a doctrine known as “attractive nuisance.” This may hold a homeowner accountable for injuries to a trespassing child who entered their property because they were foreseeably attracted to a dangerous condition there. A swimming pool is a prime example of an attractive nuisance. Therefore, if their child wandered onto a neighbor’s property and fell into an unguarded swimming pool, parents might have a claim against the neighbor under the attractive nuisance doctrine.
