Exploring the Risks and Legal Responsibilities in Outdoor Recreation Settings in New Jersey
Regardless of our age, movement, exercise, and play are necessary to our physical and emotional wellbeing. In ever-increasing numbers, this fact is capitalized upon, as sports facilities, playgrounds, fairs, and amusement parks go up across New Jersey. There is some inherent risk in physical play, and accidents happen. When someone sustains an injury in a recreational accident due to an individual’s, company’s, or other party’s negligence, however, they have a right to seek financial compensation for their injuries. A personal injury attorney is an integral partner for helping you turn your personal injury claim into full recovery of financial damages.
If you have been injured in a recreational accident in New Jersey, contact the personal injury lawyers at Cohen & Riechelson at (609) 528-2596 to determine your next steps. The following article outlines some of the different types of recreational accident settings where injuries occur, who can be liable for accidents in these cases, and how to determine whether you can pursue a personal injury claim for compensation.
Recreational Activities and Injuries: Distinguishing Inherent Risk from Negligence
Many sports, activities, and rides carry an inherent risk of injury. Wherever movement and engagement of equipment is concerned, this is the case. In some circumstances, a person is injured at a sports facility, playground, fair, or amusement park due to their own error or improper use of equipment. In these cases, the inherent risk of injury associated with activity and individual error – not negligence associated with a facility’s poor maintenance or product failure – is to blame for the injury, and the victim cannot recover financial damages.
Leading Types of Accidents in Recreational Spaces
The types of recreational accidents are as varied as the types of recreational spaces. For example, in gyms and sports facilities, a person can be injured misusing workout equipment or overextending themselves in an exercise class, slip and fall in the changing room or elsewhere, or be hit with a ball. On playgrounds, a child can fall off of the structure, cut themselves on an exposed edge or nail, or get an extremity caught in a moving piece of equipment. At amusement parks or fairgrounds, rides cause all sorts of potential for accidents due to the inherent nature of their movement causing injury, usually to people not big or strong enough to withstand it. Fairgrounds also experience a higher rate of portable machine failure, slip and falls, and overcrowding.
Potential Injuries Associated with Recreational Activities
Some of the numerous injuries sustained from recreational accidents are head, neck, and spine injuries like whiplash and strains; cuts and lacerations; bruising or more serious internal bleeding; broken and fractured bones; tweaked and pulled joints; and even death.
Legal Standards for Holding Recreational Facilities Accountable
A personal injury claim can facilitate a victim of a recreational accident receiving compensation for their injury, including medical expenses, lost wages due to injury leave, extra out-of-pocket costs for injury care and recovery, and some associated non-economic costs.
In order to recover financial compensation for a recreational accident, a victim must prove negligence. To do so, they must show that the individual or company responsible had a reasonable duty of care for the safety of the individual, that they were in breach of that duty, and that the victim was injured as a direct result of that negligence.
Different Types of Liability in Recreational Accidents
There are several different types of liability to be aware of when recreational accidents occur. These include the following:
Premises liability: A property owner or manager is responsible for ensuring that the premises is safe for all visitors. This includes both personal and commercial premises. As such, a property owner can be found negligent if they fail to maintain the space for safety, signal dangerous areas with signage, or otherwise protect visitors from hazardous property or weather conditions.
Participant liability: Any participant in a recreational setting assumes some inherent risk. Some recreational facilities have participants sign a waiver to legally document the participant’s agreement to release the provider from liability for injury caused by the activity’s inherent danger.
Equipment Failure: A product manufacturer, not the property owner or manager, may be held liable if equipment failure causes injury. It is important to note that in some cases of equipment failure, improper setup is the cause. In these cases, the contractor or owner responsible for overseeing equipment setup may be held responsible.
Contact Cohen & Riechelson to Explore Your Options after a Recreational Accident in New Jersey
If you have been injured in a recreational accident, the accomplished team of personal injury attorneys at at Cohen & Riechelson can help you file a personal injury claim to seek robust compensation for your injuries. We assist clients with injury claims involving many different recreational settings in Hamilton, Lawrence, Princeton, Hightstown, Ewing, Robbinsville, Trenton, Windsor, and other New Jersey locations by building strong evidence-based cases for full damages. Our legal team is here to ensure that any settlement takes into consideration future medical expenses and living wage repercussions associated with your injury, as well as the mental and physical toll of your injuries, not just what the accident has cost you to-date.
We handle the burden of the legal process for your personal injury claim while you rest and recuperate. Contact us at (609) 528-2596 for a free consultation to discuss your recreation accident and who can potentially be held accountable for your injuries.