Sure, it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas, but until you frolic through the fresh flakes, can you really consider yourself in the holiday spirit?
You pack up the family and head out to Salt Lake City to ice skate at Gallivan Plaza. Nothing spreads Christmas cheer quite like a night under the lights as the snow begins to fall. But if you are injured as a result of a night of skating, are you justified in making a phone call to your slip and fall lawyer?
The Risk of the Sport
Ice skating is dangerous — there’s no way around it. You voluntarily attached two blades to the bottom of your feet and entered a rink made of a slick surface. Accidents happen, but slip and fall lawsuits won’t always be successful.
The person who owns and runs the rink you’re at has the responsibility of keeping all patrons safe. This means that he must keep the rink and all equipment functioning properly. This doesn’t mean that he needs to answer to your lawyer for all accidents.
If you choose to participate in an activity, you also choose to accept the dangers that come with the sport. This is what is referred to as an assumption of risk. Some facilities will ask that you sign a waiver to state that you knew you were risking your safety when you entered the rink.
Can You Ever Win?
In many states there are laws to prevent damages to the ring operators, due to the fact that slip and fall cases are a dime a dozen when it comes to ice skating. For those operators who show gross negligence, they will have many a lawyer to answer to.
For example, if the rink capacity is 200, but they let 300 people in to skate and you got injured, you would have a case of negligence. Conversely, if someone begins skating erratically when they hurt you, it isn’t the owner’s fault because there wasn’t anything they could have done to prevent it.
’Tis the season to take extra precautions and practice safety in all you do.