When to File a Lawsuit for a Swimming Pool Injury

See when you have grounds to file a swimming pool lawsuit. Explore the parties who may be liable for pool injuries to you or your loved one.

The U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission warns that fatal and non-fatal drownings are on the rise, with an average of 389 fatalities each year, and 6,800 near-drownings in swimming pools or hot tubs.¹

Whether it’s from a slip and fall or a dive into shallow water, pools are a common cause of personal injuries. If you or your loved one were injured in a swimming pool accident that was someone else’s fault, you can seek compensation for your losses.

Proving Fault for Swimming Pool Injuries

You can prove a pool owner is liable for your personal injuries by showing they were negligent, meaning they did something wrong or failed to take reasonable action to prevent harm.

Premises liability laws help determine who is liable when someone is injured on another person’s property. To be “liable” means that the owner was responsible for causing your accident and, as a result, must compensate you for your injuries.

When homeowners and businesses open a pool to visitors, they are responsible for keeping the pool safe. All pool owners share a general duty to reduce the risk of drowning accidents and other injuries. Your main task in proving negligence will be to show an owner violated this duty. You can often show a violation by finding evidence that the owner did not correct an unsafe condition.

Unsafe conditions at a pool might include:

  • Low water levels (in diving areas)
  • Lack of supervision (by a lifeguard, parent, or others)
  • Inadequate warning signs
  • Broken glass in the pool area
  • Missing emergency devices (for example, flotation devices)
  • Faulty or dim pool lights

A state’s premises liability laws often impose different duties depending on the type of victim involved. For example, while a pool owner may owe a high degree of care to a person it invites to its pool, they generally have no duty of care to people who access the pool by trespassing.

Example: Determining a Pool Owner’s Negligence

Lisa was invited to her friend’s house for an afternoon of swimming. The friends headed out to the pool and Lisa went to the diving board. She stood at its back and got ready to dive in.  She raced forward and jumped in the air. But when she landed back on the board, it remained stationary and didn’t create any spring.

Lisa badly strained her knee and fell into the pool. Her friend rushed to help Lisa climb back onto the pool deck. After the injury, a local pool company examined the diving board. The company discovered that the spring underneath the diving board was cracked. The broken spring caused Lisa’s injury.

A reasonable swimming pool owner should conduct regular checks of the pool and its equipment, including the diving board. If aware of any hazards, like the broken diving board, the owner is obligated to have the board fixed or warn visitors not to use it.

In this scenario, the pool owner is likely liable because they should have known of the hazard and taken action to fix it.

Exception for Child Trespassers – Attractive Nuisance

Many states carve out an exception to the general rule prohibiting a duty of care towards trespassers with the attractive nuisance doctrine.

The doctrine says that a child trespasser can bring a legal claim against a property owner for injuries caused by an unsafe object on the land that “attracted” the child or lured them onto the property. Swimming pools are at the top of the list of potential attractive nuisances.

Example of Attractive Nuisance Doctrine

First-graders John and Pam are playing one afternoon and see that a neighbor recently added an in-ground pool in their backyard with a tile deck around it. There is no fence surrounding the pool and no signs warning of a possible hazard.

John and Pam enter the neighbor’s property to take a closer look. As the two get close to the edge of the pool, John slips on the wet tile and breaks his left arm.

In this instance, the neighbor may be liable for John’s injuries under the attractive nuisance doctrine.

John is a young child. He trespassed onto the neighbor’s land because he was attracted by the swimming pool, and he was hurt as a result. The negligent property owner should have tried to prevent injuries by building a fence.

Duties Imposed by State Laws

In addition to premises liability laws, many state and local governments impose additional legal requirements on pool owners – both public and private.

For example, the Florida Residential Swimming Pool Safety Act imposes specific safety requirements on homeowners that have a pool.

Florida pool owners must: 

  • Surround their pools with a minimum four-foot-tall fence
  • Cover their pool or hot tub when not in use
  • Supervise children who are using their pool

California’s Swimming Pool Safety Act requires pool owners to follow an even more comprehensive set of rules.

According to California’s rules: 

  • Residential swimming pool owners must install a 60-inch access gate on a pool enclosure with self-latching locks
  • Owners must ensure that the surface of this enclosure is free of anything that someone can use as a foothold or handhold
  • Owners must cover suction outlets in a pool with anti-entrapment grates

California law also says that operators of public pools must keep surrounding areas well-maintained.

If you suffered a swimming pool accident because an owner failed to follow state or municipal laws, you can use that failure to help establish a personal injury claim.

Liable Parties in Swimming Pool Lawsuits

There may be more than one party responsible for the circumstances that led to a serious pool accident. If you file a personal injury lawsuit, it should be against all alleged negligent parties.

In addition to homeowners, potentially liable pool owners include:

In general, all of these property owners have a duty to make their pools as safe as possible. This duty extends to the pool and the areas surrounding the pool, like changing facilities, snack areas, and showering facilities.

In some situations, a property owner may also have a duty to warn you of pool-related risks that aren’t obvious to the average person. For example, the owner might post a sign indicating the hours when there will be no lifeguard on duty, such as lunch breaks.

Waterparks and Theme Park Pools

If you suffered an injury in a waterpark, you probably signed a liability waiver to gain entry into the park. You’ll need an attorney to move forward with your claim.

Injury liability waivers protect businesses against insurance claims and legal action. A waiver attempts to relieve the business of any legal blame for your injuries. Waivers also prove that the company warned you of any potential risks related to their facility or taking part in their activities.

If you signed a waiver, it doesn’t mean that you can’t hold a waterpark liable for your pool accident or a loved one’s fatal drowning. A local injury attorney, preferably with experience filing cases against the waterpark, is best situated to know whether the waiver you signed is enforceable, or if the park’s owners were egregiously negligent.

Pools Owned by a Government Agency

If you’ve suffered an injury at a public pool owned by a governmental entity, it’s a good idea to speak with an experienced personal injury attorney for help.

You can still file an injury claim against the government. However, the process is more complicated than filing a claim against a private party, with very tight deadlines. If your personal injury claim is not submitted using the right form, or the form isn’t filled out correctly, you might not have time to fix the error before the claim filing deadline expires.

Manufacturers of Defective Pool Products

There are times when a component within a pool causes an injury. For example, pool drains and filters have been known to cause significant injuries.

If a defective pool product causes an accident, then the owner may not be at fault, unless they actually knew there was a problem. The injured victim may instead have grounds for a product liability claim with the manufacturer or installer of the defective product.

Pursuing Pool Accident Compensation

If a pool owner was negligent in causing your accident, they must compensate you for the losses related to your injuries.

You can most likely handle your own claim if you recovered from a minor injury and the pool owner is a private residential homeowner. You should be able to file a claim with the homeowner’s insurance company.

You can seek financial compensation for:

Wrongful Death Claims

If a pool owner’s negligence contributed to a fatal drowning, the decedent’s family member may bring a wrongful death lawsuit against the owner.  These cases always require an experienced attorney.

A wrongful death lawsuit is an action filed in court to seek monetary compensation from a person (or entity) whose negligence caused another person’s death. Wrongful death lawsuits may be filed by an attorney on behalf of the decedent’s next-of-kin, or on behalf of the decedent’s estate.

Victim Fault Can Reduce Available Compensation

The injury victim may share responsibility for causing the accident if they were horsing around or ignoring pool safety rules. Victims can also help bring about a pool accident by drinking too much alcohol. According to the CDC, alcohol is involved in up to 70% of water recreation deaths among adolescents and adults.

Alcohol use contributes to swimming pool and hot tub accidents because it negatively influences a person’s coordination, judgment, and balance. Many pool visitors also suffer from dehydration from sun exposure. Dehydration works to intensify the effects that alcohol has on a person’s body.

If you helped contribute to your pool accident, you might still be eligible for injury compensation. However, your state may have laws in place that will reduce the amount of your payout.

When You Need a Swimming Pool Injury Lawyer

If you or a loved one suffered severe or permanent injuries, like brain damage or a spinal cord injury, your case requires the expertise of an experienced swimming pool accident lawyer.

Many insurance adjusters intentionally offer less to injury victims and their families when they are not represented by an attorney.

Premises liability claims get complicated when the property owner tries to shift blame for the accident on you or another party.  To protect your own interests, and seek compensation from every party who may be at fault for your injuries, you’ll need a good attorney.

Most injury law firms provide a free case evaluation. You’ll have the opportunity to meet with an attorney to get all your questions answered without spending a dime.

Personal injury attorneys usually agree to work on a contingency fee basis. You won’t have to pay legal fees unless the attorney settles your claim or wins your lawsuit in court. There’s no obligation and it costs nothing to get a free consultation for your swimming pool accident claim.

Swimming Pool Lawsuit Questions