Sports injuries are covered by the personal injury laws in the US, but in different ways. One thing that you have to remember is that sports carry some amount of risk and hence getting compensation for these injuries, or even proving that someone has caused intentional harm or harm due to negligence, can be very difficult to do.
First of all, for sports injuries to be covered by the personal injury law, several things are to be considered and the facts of the case are reviewed closely. It is difficult to prove negligence, but a careful review of the facts of the case can reveal where the fault lies. For instance, if a child falls down on an uneven part of the school playground, then the school can be sued for negligence. If a tile of a swimming pool floor is chipped and you cut your toe on it, it is grounds for negligence. In such cases, a review of the circumstances becomes very important.
Proving cases of intent become more difficult. If someone’s racquet hits you while playing tennis, it could be a pure accident. But if you have reason to believe that it was done intentionally, and you are able to prove this, you have grounds for a personal injury case. In such cases, the person causing the injury is made to bear the compensation. However, proving such cases can become very difficult.
The success of such cases, from the victim’s point of view, becomes more difficult when the sport involved is a contact sport. There are the simple contact sports and the pure contact sports, both of which recompense the victims in different ways. Simple contact sports are like baseball where you don’t have to touch anybody but that can happen because of the frenetic nature of the sport. On the other hand, soccer is a sport that has physical contact as a part of the game. So do all martial art forms. In cases where there is pure contact, it is almost impossible to get compensation because injuries are a part of the game itself.
Owing to the difficult nature of these cases, it is very important to have an experienced attorney making the claims or you. You will need to make sure that the attorney you select has experience handling sports injury cases in the past because only that will ensure they will be able to present your case properly and get you the judgement you deserve.
For more information on making a personal injury claim, please feel free to visit our Making A Personal Injury Claim page