Who is Liable When Kids are Injured Playing Sports?

If you have kids, there’s a good chance that either now or at some point in their life, they played sports. Some may have been more serious about it than others, and some may have played for years, and some just gave it a short term try.

But if your kids did or do play sports, there is always the chance of injury. Is anybody liable when kids get hurt playing sports?

Inherent Risks of Sports

As an obvious rule, injuries that happen because of inherent risks in the sport itself, don’t mean that you can sue. The typical twisted ankles or lacerations or torn ligaments that can happen, are a part of physical activity—especially activity that is connected with more physical, higher impact youth sports.

But you would also be wrong to assume that just because your child suffered an injury playing youth sports, that it is “just part of the game,” and thus, that there is nobody to sue. Because sometimes, the injuries aren’t because of the natural risk that comes with playing a sport. Sometimes, the injuries stem from carelessness or negligence.

The Real Cause of Many Youth Sports Injuries

For example, in many cases kids may be hurt playing sports, because they are allowed to continue playing, even after there is an injury; in other words, adults who are running leagues or coaching the kids, allow kids to continue playing even after an injury.

In other cases, an injury is because of a poorly maintained field or court, and the injury wasn’t because of the game itself, it was because of improper maintenance.

Many youth coaches and leagues don’t pay much heed to weather and the danger of weather conditions. They may have kids play in rain, lightning, or worse, excessive heat, and may ignore, or not even be trained to spot, the signs of heat exhaustion-in fact they may see playing through adverse and dangerous weather conditions as being a positive thing.

For sports which have equipment, that equipment may have been old, not properly maintained, not fitted to the child properly, or perhaps not even used at all.

In more strenuous youth sports, emergency personnel may have to be at the ready and available. Certainly, that’s more of a requirement with physical or contact sports, but it’s good policy for every type of sport.

Attending to Injury

The aftermath of an injury is crucial. Even if your child is injured just as part of the natural part of the game he or she was playing, of his or her condition was made worse by the failure to attend to him or her, or the lack of ready and immediately available medical attention, there can still be liability against the organization, league, company or school.

Was your child injured while playing youth sports? Someone may be liable. Contact the Tampa personal injury lawyers at Barbas, Nunez, Sanders, Butler & Hovsepian and schedule a consultation today.

Sources:

nata.org/advocacy/youth-sports-safety

gssiweb.org/sports-science-exchange/article/sse-86-heat-stroke-in-sports-causes-prevention-and-treatment#:~:text=Heat%20stroke%20is%20always%20a,and%2For%20lack%20of%20fitness