Drowning Accidents & Florida’s Mounting Wrongful Death Cases
With the summer months finally upon us, many of us living in the state of Florida will be spending much of our nights and weekends at family barbeques, one of many beautiful Florida beaches, or even poolside – catching a tan and cooling off with a nice swim with the family. And with the highest number of citizens owning pools across the country, Floridians are no strangers to taking swims in their own backyard, whether it be a luxurious 5 figure in ground pool, or an above ground family pool, a game of Marco polo on a Saturday night with your loved ones simply can’t be beat. Unfortunately, according to the Top Wrongful Death Lawyer Tampa has to offer, Mr. Charles Spinner, with the tremendous uptick in the number of pools across the state, has come a tremendous risk of tragedy as well – with statistics sadly backing up numbers years over year. As a pool owner, especially an in ground. pool it is absolutely your obligation to ensure the safety of your family and your guests. It seems that each year we hear stories constantly about children having been left unattended playing by the pool, only to fall, with all the adults either too busy to notice or preoccupied with their own fun to jump in and save them. Sadly, in such cases, there were many opportunities to prevent such a tragic event, and not one of the countless safeguards were taken.
The fact is that every year, drowning accidents devastate thousands of families every year. As the top wrongful death lawyer Tampa has in practice, while all drowning cases involve a life ended too soon, many of these drowning accidents also involve legal liability. And sure, these issues often take place between families of close friends, so it does not mean that anyone meant for a drowning to occur, but rather that, as a host of a party and owner of the swimming pool, a legal liability of some sort was not met, and this led to a child’s (or even an adult’s) drowning. In the event that someone’s negligence or recklessness causes another person to drown, the victim’s family may be entitled to compensation for the loss of their loved one through wrongful death cases. While such issues are quite difficult to broach between individuals who truly might care for one another’s family – the fact is that negligence occurred, leading to the untimely death of a loved one, and justice must be served through a wrongful death lawsuit.
In the event you have lost a loved one in a drowning accident, caused by the negligence or recklessness of another party, as the victim’s family, you may sue, alleging a wrongful death. There are a number of reasons why wrongful death cases might fit, including instances such as:
· An individual might have physically caused the drowning. This is often the case when the drowning happens to someone in their prime years, without any health concerns – whether it was through roughhousing or horseplay in the pool, pretending to drown them, forcing them to the deep end without providing help and much more.
· The owner or individual responsible for the pool, knowingly invited people to a pool party knowing there were certain, possibly deadly defects within the pool.
· The individual responsible for the pool or waterway was negligent or reckless in the operation of the pool – or failed to provide adequate protection or barriers knowing children or disabled individuals might be in the area.
Importantly, a pool, one with a deep-end, should have someone in the vicinity with the ability to swim very well – in the event someone is hurt or begins to drown underwater. Public pools, beaches, lakes and small-scale “swimming holes” have lifeguards on duty, according to the top wrongful death lawyer Sarasota has to offer, Mr. Spinner, in the event that negligent or reckless behavior of a lifeguard contributed to a drowning death, the operator of the pool or swimming hole may be liable for wrongful death. The same can be true if a lack of maintenance at a pool, spa or swimming hole causes someone to drown. As the top wrongful death lawyer Sarasota has in practice, Mr. Spinner has been involved in a number of wrongful death lawsuits against hotel pools or other public pools in years past, as poor regulations led to many deaths. States and the federal government have enacted certain requirements for those operating swimming pools or spas. For example, federal law and most state laws impose certain requirements on anyone operating a public pool.
Federal law, and a growing number of state laws now require those operating public or semi-public pools or spas to install drain covers designed to prevent drain suction in pools and many hot-tubs. Being a top wrongful death lawyer Tampa attorney Mr. Spinner’s cases have gotten a lot of legislators to open their eyes to the fact that older style drain covers have often proved inadequate to prevent people most often children from getting trapped by the suction around a pool drain, which pulls water out of the pool for re circulation. The newer drain covers aim to prevent the large number of drain suction drowning accidents experienced every year. As the Top Wrongful Death Lawyer Sarasota Attorney, Mr. Spinner has helped lead the charge for a number of public pool operators (including hotels) to have upgraded their drain covers, but some have no either due to oversight or to avoid the cost. If a drowning occurs in a pool which is out of compliance with the law, that violation can count as evidence against the pool operator in a wrongful death lawsuit.
