It is possible to get injured at a sports facility or a stadium, which may make you think of looking for an attorney as soon as possible. Whether you live in Vancouver, and you will be hiring a Vancouver personal injury attorney to represent you, or anywhere else in the country, it’s important to know what this situation involves, before you do anything.
Is it possible to sue the owner or does the assumption of risk apply here? If you’re in this situation or you know someone else who is, you should know what to do next. This article will help you with that.
What Are the Types of Injuries at Stadiums and Sports Facilities?
Usually, when someone gets injured at stadiums and sports facilities, there are two different categories:
A standard premises liability case involves someone tripping and falling or slipping and falling at the stadium or sports facility. In a premises liability case, you will only win if you’re able to do one thing: prove that the owner of the stadium or facility was somehow negligent.
Of course, slipping or tripping and falling is not an indicator that the owner of the place was negligent in any way. If the floor was slippery, it might be someone else’s fault, someone who is not related to the owner in any way. The only moment when the owner may have been negligent is when they were aware of the problem yet did nothing to solve the issue and the injury occurred as a result.
A more unfortunate situation is when you’re at a stadium watching a great game, and then you get hit by a puck or a ball. While this doesn’t seem too serious, the injuries can be very bad, particularly if the object was thrown with a lot of force.
In this scenario, you will have to look at the ticket you bought for the event. There, you should find some information about being hit by a ball or a puck. Usually, this disclaimer mentions that it is possible for balls or pucks to leave the stadium and injure the fans. By attending the event knowing these things, the fan agrees with them and assumes the risk.
Even if this is the case, the owner should be able to take every measure possible to reduce the risk of an injury. For instance, netting can protect against balls at baseball stadiums. If you get injured despite the precautions, then you can make an argument. If the stadium you went to didn’t meet the proper standards, you can have a legal case.
Can You Prove Stadium Owner Negligence When Slipping and Falling?
You can prove negligence when slipping and falling only if the owner was aware of common issues yet did nothing to fix them. For example, the floors could be slippery due to fans intentionally causing damage. If the owner knew about it and did nothing to solve the problem, you may have a legal case.
Meanwhile, if the slippery floor was only something that happened once and it was because someone dropped some water on the floor by mistake, it isn’t negligence. The owner most likely had no time to learn about this issue to be able to fix it on time.
Final Thoughts
You may have a case when injured at stadiums or sports facilities, but only in certain situations. Most of the time, if you cannot prove the owner’s negligence, you will not have a case.