Dallas Swimming Pool Accidents

North Texas Attorney Michael Grossman Discusses Swimming Pool Drowning Accidents

The gleaming, inviting, and cool waters of a backyard pool often beckon to Texans suffering from sweltering summers. Thousands of Dallas and Fort Worth residents enjoy their pools for a large majority of the year and nearly every major apartment complex in Dallas has a pool, if not multiple pools.

Unfortunately, a source of relaxation and enjoyment can quickly become a source of pain and loss if supervision is lacking or pool maintenance is poor. Drowning accidents in backyard pools, drownings at city pools, and apartment pool accidents can lead to severe personal injury, or even death. When you or a loved one has experienced such a pool accident, you may have legal recourse to seek justice and compensation for your injury or loss. Dallas swimming pool accident attorney Michael Grossman, with 20 years of experience in personal injury and wrongful death law, can help you in the aftermath of a pool accident.

How Do Swimming Pool Accidents Often Occur?

Pool accidents most often occur due to negligent supervision. Child drowning accidents can happen in the blink of an eye if an entrusted individual is not keeping a watchful eye on minors in their care. Even if a child is saved from suffering a fatal drowning accident, the child may still develop a lifelong medical condition due to a lack of oxygen getting to the child’s brain while they were submerged. Such an injury that may alter a child’s life is accompanied by severe financial burdens in order for a family to provide proper medical care for their child. If a child suffers a fatal pool accident, the loss of the young person’s life can cause almost unbearable grief for the parents or guardians. In each situation, an aggrieved family may be able to seek compensation for their loss, which could greatly assist with medical bills or other incurred damages, against a negligent party. Such a negligent party could be a supervising adult or a negligent lifeguard.

Another common cause of pool accidents in Texas is lack of necessary maintenance. Pools require a great amount of work in order to keep them safe and functional. Defective pool drains, murky water, and improperly maintained pool equipment can all contribute to a pool accident in Dallas. If a pool is not maintained well enough and an injurious or fatal pool accident occurs, the injured victim or a bereaved family member can seek compensation for their injury or loss through a personal injury or wrongful death lawsuit against the negligent party responsible for the upkeep of the pool.

Did You Know?

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Some pool accidents can even be caused by defective or faulty devices, like a defective pool gate, a broken diving board, or a faulty pool drain. In some instances, the manufacturer of the part may be liable for an injury or death. In other instances, the party responsible for maintaining the part so it is in proper functioning order may be held liable. Ascertaining such liability can often be challenging, but an experienced drowning accident lawyer can assist you in identifying the cause or causes of a pool accident in Fort Worth so that the liable parties can be held accountable for their role in the pool accident.

Furthermore, the owner of the pool has a legal duty to properly inform their guests of any possible problems that usage of the pool may pose. This legal duty falls under Texas law in regards to premises liability.

Texas Premises Liability and Pool Accidents

Premises liability law concerns instances where a person has sustained an injury or has been killed while on another person’s property. As pool accidents most commonly occur when a person is visiting another person’s property, premises liability is an important notion to understand. A property owner has certain legal duties toward their visitors based on how the visitor is defined:

• An invitee is a person that knowingly and willfully visits a property for the mutual benefit of both the visitor and the property owner. For example, a shopper would be considered an invitee.
• A licensee is a person that knowingly and willfully visits a property for their own benefit. For example, a person visiting a friend’s house would be considered a licensee.
• A trespasser is a person that knowingly and willfully enters a property without the permission of the property owner. For example, a burglar would be considered a trespasser.

For a vast majority of pool accidents in Dallas, a victim is likely to be considered a licensee. As a result, a property owner has a legal duty to warn their visitors about any pre-existing dangerous conditions and to not intentionally cause harm to a visitor. In other words, a pool owner must be pro-active in their care for the safety of those that use their pool, in addition to ensuring that the pool is safe to enjoy prior to its use. If a fatal drowning accident occurs, the pool owner could be held civilly liable for that victim’s death through a wrongful death lawsuit.

What is the Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act?

Effective as of late 2008, the Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act is a federal law that works to prevent entrapment injuries or entrapment deaths from occurring in swimming pools and spas at schools, public places, and apartment complexes by requiring these pools and spas to use approved anti-entrapment drain covers. It should be noted that Texas law also applies to these types of pools and spas as well, since the state law requirements meet or exceed the federal requirements, aside from the requirement stated above in regards to drain covers. While federal mandates are beneficial in cutting down on the number of pool entrapment deaths, laws by themselves can only accomplish so much. Improper maintenance of such pools, or negligent entrustment while a pool is in use, can still sometimes result in an entrapment injury.

Pursuing a Lawsuit for a Dallas Drowning Accident

Water-related accidents can happen in a wide variety of settings, from a beach accident or a water park drowning to a hotel pool accident or apartment pool drowning. When you’ve suffered a debilitating injury as a result of a pool accident in Texas, the damages you’ve likely incurred in terms of medical bills, lost wages, and pain and suffering can often be quite high. If you’ve lost a loved one due to a drowning accident in Texas, your loss is likely incalculable, yet compensation can still be sought in order to assist you with the financial losses you’ve likely experienced in the wake of your loved one’s passing. In these instances, seeking legal action through a personal injury lawsuit or a wrongful death lawsuit can help you recover those costs, in addition to holding the negligent parties accountable for their behavior so that similar accidents don’t have to happen in the future.

Dallas drowning attorney Michael Grossman and his team at Grossman Law Offices can help you through this difficult time. With two decades of experience in wrongful death and personal injury cases, we have the necessary experience to help you seek full and fair compensation for your injury or loss. Assessing liability in pool-related accidents can be challenging due to the large number of factors that can often be a part of such cases. In many instances, there could be multiple parties that may all bear a portion of liability for an accident. Issues like negligent entrustment, premises liability, and product liability will likely all have to be thorough investigated in order to properly assess why a drowning accident happened. With our readily-available resources to investigate an accident site, we can help build a strong case on your behalf, or your loved one’s behalf. We can come alongside you during this difficult time so that justice can be served and so that you can stand to receive proper compensation for your injury or loss.