Swimming is fun and relaxing but having a swimming pool has liabilities that could leave you or someone else financially responsible if a child is injured or drowns while in your swimming pool. Today, I wanted to share some tips from Jeffery Killino, an attorney who specializes in child injury and deaths, on who is financially responsible should an accident or drowning happen on your property. If you have a swimming pool, you need to make sure that your insurance company is aware that you have a swimming pool in your backyard and ensure that you have enough insurance coverage on your home owner’s or renters policy to cover accidents or deaths.
Disclosure: This post is for informational purposes only. If you have any questions regarding child injury or death, please contact an attorney to answer your questions about your specific legal case. Also, don’t forget to contact your insurance company too.
Most parents have thought about the risks their children face while swimming in pools, lakes, or oceans. In many cases, parents feel a certain level of security because lifeguards are on duty or because they have made sure that their children know how to swim. These safeguards are important, of course, but may not be all that is required to keep your child safe from harm. If your child is swimming in a lake with murky or weed-filled water or sharp drop-off depths, for example, the ability to swim and the presence of a lifeguard may not save your child from drowning. Parents need to be aware of all these dangers and take precautions against the risks they pose to their children. Even when lifeguards are present at a lake, ocean beach, or pool, parents should keep a close watch on their own children to make sure they are safe from harm.
Pools, lakes, and oceans are often crowded with a great number of adults and children of every age, making it impossible in most circumstances for lifeguards to watch every child at every moment. Problems can also arise if one swimmer gets into trouble and requires assistance from available lifeguards, leaving no or far too few lifeguards to watch over the remaining swimmers. Knowing this and realizing the risks swimming can pose, many owners or operators of pools post warnings to parents, advising them that they are responsible for their children’s safety even when lifeguards are on duty.
Swimming in an ocean can involve additional dangers, as well. Strong undertows and dangerous sea-life may be beyond the control of life guards or even the most watchful parents. Jelly-fish and, in recent weeks, great white sharks, have been known to pose threats to children who swim off the New Jersey shore. Sharks have reportedly begun to appear in waters closer to the shore than usual, requiring extra vigilance by parents of children who swim in these waters. New Jersey’s shore communities and beaches are wonderful, almost magical vacation and weekend retreats, but proper vigilance and safety precautions are crucial to ensuring that a time of joy and relaxation does not turn into disaster.
Legal Responsibility for Injuries Sustained by a Child While Swimming
Legal responsibility for injuries sustained by a child while swimming may be attributed to a number of individuals and/or entities, depending upon the circumstances of the particular incident as well as the location of the lake, pool, or other body of water in which the child was swimming when a swimming accident occurred.
