Whether outdoors or indoors, water parks can be a great way for people of all ages and families of all sizes to cool off and have a good time together. Unfortunately, some of the companies that own and operate these parks are negligent when it comes to keeping their property clean, safe, and properly staffed, and that sometimes leads to preventable accidents that cause serious harm to guests.
Incidents like this can serve as grounds for legal action, but a few unique aspects of suing a water park can be tricky to navigate around without a practiced attorney’s support. Fortunately, you have help available from a respected and experienced Eatontown water park injury lawyer who knows exactly how to fight effectively on behalf of families like yours.
How Fault Works in Water Park Injury Claims
Water park injury lawsuits are governed by premises liability law, which holds landowners and property managers responsible for keeping their land free of unreasonably dangerous hazards and warning visitors about hazards they’ve yet to fix. Since water parks are usually run by for-profit businesses, the owners of those parks generally also have a duty to inspect their property regularly for as-yet undiscovered hazards, which means you may be able to sue over something like a broken floor tile or a defective water slide even if the park’s owner had no direct knowledge that anything was wrong on their property.
Water park visitors have a duty to act reasonably and follow posted rules at all times while in the park—for example, by not running near pools and slides. As an Eatontown water park accident attorney can explain, any amount of comparative fault a court assigns to an injured person based on their own negligence could lead to that person missing out on some or even all the compensation they’d otherwise have been entitled to.
Legal Time Limits for Filing a Water Park Accident Lawsuit
Another possible legal roadblock that you should know about before trying to sue over a water park injury is the statute of limitations. Under New Jersey state law, you have a limited amount of time to file suit after initially getting hurt through someone else’s negligence. If you try to sue after that deadline passes, your case will be thrown out of court for being time-barred.
The applicable deadline for suing a water park over an accident is typically two years after the accident actually happened, as established under New Jersey Revised Statutes § 2A:14-2. The starting point for that two-year period can sometimes be tolled, or pushed back, until certain conditions are met, which is another thing a water park injury lawyer in Eatontown can go into further detail about during a private initial meeting.
An Eatontown Water Park Injury Attorney Can Help
There’s no shortage of ways in which a lack of maintenance—or a lack of proper supervision by lifeguards and cleaning staff—can lead to a water park visitor suffering a serious injury. There are a lot of different paths you can take toward demanding civil compensation after an accident like this, not all of which are going to end up with you receiving the money you need for your damages.
However, if you get help from an Eatontown water park injury lawyer as early as possible in your legal proceedings, you give yourself the best possible chance of getting a good case result. Call Ostroff Godshall Injury and Accident Lawyers today to get started.
