Sports Injuries
Over 10 million people suffer some kind of sports injury every year in the United States, 3.5 million of them children. Sports injuries can happen on the job, at the gym, or playing a team sport, like football, basketball, or soccer. The range of injuries is quite large.
A “sports injury” can be anything from a simple muscle sprain or strain, to a rotator cuff tear, to a concussion followed by a coma. It’s also the case that if you’re injured, there’s no guarantee you’ll get financial help for your recovery. So what can you do if you or your child ends up being one of the millions hurt playing sports?
First, you can consult a good Bellevue Injury lawyer. An attorney can help you gage the likelihood of a financial settlement. They would handle the basic issues like finding the elements of negligence, especially those on someone else’s part. With sports injuries, it is not always clear cut who is negligent and how liable they are.
There’s a broad scope under which negligence can arise. This includes improperly train players, poorly hiring and retaining staff, and not having a plan for when someone can return to play after injury. Even if one or more of those is claimed, the ‘reasonable person standard’ (how a competent, rational adult in a position of authority would act) will be applied. But as your Bellevue Injury Lawyer will point out, your case can still run into difficulty if a liability waiver was signed.
Signing something waiving your right to sue those who might be at fault for yours or your child’s injury while playing sports is very common. These are often narrowly construed, however, only covering what could be the ‘normal course of play’ for a specific activity. This means that if whoever is in charge of the event didn’t do their job properly, the courts may decide the waiver doesn’t apply.
Sports injury cases that go far enough to get to litigation can be difficult to win. The defense will bring up the assumption of risk, the idea that any rational person understands how dangerous the activity was beforehand. They will point to a signed waiver, if there is one. They might even raise contributory negligence where you or someone else might partly be at fault. An example is if a child who lied about headaches to return to play was later diagnosed with a concussion.
As with many other personal injury cases, you or your child might need to testify. This would be alongside any medical experts or investigators your trial lawyer brings to review and support the case. Your Bellevue Injury Lawyer would be the ones who coach you or your child on what to do, what to say, and how to act on the witness stand.
R Martin Law Group has worked with children and adults on their sports injury claims. We know that a sports injury can be a traumatic experience, mentally, emotionally, and physically. We want to relieve some of your stress by pursuing your settlement for you, so that you can focus on health and healing. You want to get back in the game, and your Bellevue Injury Lawyer wants to be part of the team that gets you there.
