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What Happens If You Get Injured At An Athletic Event?

Some people take part in the action at an athletic event. Others watch and cheer for their favorite team or competitor. Those in either group could get injured. What sort of legal action can those in either group take?

Was a participant injured?

If some harm gets done to a participant, then he or she is reported to have a sporting injury. There are 2 types of sporting injuries. Some get labeled as traumatic. That means that some type of impact caused the injury. Others result from overuse, primarily overuse of muscles. It can prove a challenge to point to someone that might be held liable for any sporting injuries that fall into that second category.

Who might be held liable for a traumatic injury?

• A coach
• A trainer
• A maker of sports equipment
• Other players on a team
• A facility used by the athletes

Any of the individuals on the above list might claim that the injured athlete had accepted an assumed risk. That means that the injured party had consented to the rules used during the event. In order to win a charge of liability on the part of a trainer, coach, player, facility or equipment manufacturer, the plaintiff or their injury lawyer in Lincoln must show that the defendant exceeded the boundaries of the submitted consent.

How could someone exceed the boundaries of consent? That could be done by committing an act of negligence, by making defective equipment or by carrying out some sort of wanton, yet harmful action.

A lawyer could use specific arguments to show that a plaintiff had not accepted an assumed risk.

An attorney might have evidence that the plaintiff was not aware of the risk.
If a trainer or coach had provided a player with poor information, then that fact could be used as proof of an effort on the defendant’s part to hide the degree of risk in taking part in a certain sporting event.

By the same token, a lawyer could argue that the facility in which a given sporting event had taken place did not have an adequate level of safety features.

What action could be taken if someone in the audience got injured at a sporting event?

The facilities that hold such an event do not post warnings to those in the audience. The absence of those warnings should add strength to the plaintiff’s/victim’s case. It should weaken the defendant’s case.

The facilities that host various sporting events do not want to get viewed as unsafe locations. Yet, not every person seated in that same facility has been sold a seat that is in a safe location. That fact could be used to show that an injured viewer had not accepted a known risk.