If you are staying at a hotel in Rancho Bernardo with your family, and there is a swimming pool accident, who is liable? Hotel accidents and accidental drowning incidents happen more often than they should. Hotels in Southern California and throughout the country often have signs around pool areas that warn about risks. In some situations, parents sign waivers for their kids to use a hotel pool. Can a hotel still be liable in the event that a drowning incident occurs and a child sustains serious personal injuries?

The facts of each case are different, but it is important to know that warnings and waivers do not always release hotels or other property owners from liability in a swimming pool accident.

Premises Liability and Swimming Pools at California Hotels

If you stay at a hotel, you should be able to expect that the premises will be free from hazards that could result in a serious accident. Likewise, you should be able to anticipate that a pool deck area does not have hazards that could lead to a slip and fall accident or a drowning incident. Hotels owe a duty to keep the premises safe for guests. Under California law, to prove that a hotel breached that duty to its guests, the plaintiff must be able to show the following:

• Hotel was negligent in the use or maintenance of the property;
• Plaintiff suffered harm; and
• Hotel’s negligence was a substantial factor in causing the plaintiff’s harm.

What does it mean for the hotel to be negligent in the use or maintenance of the property? California law clarifies that a hotel can be negligent if it “fails to use reasonable care to keep the property in a reasonably safe condition.” This means that the hotel must “use reasonable care to discover any unsafe conditions and to repair, replace, or give adequate warning of anything that could be reasonably expected to harm others.”

Hotel Swimming Pool Accidents That Could Result in Liability

There are some types of hotel accident cases in which the hotel more clearly bears responsibility for the plaintiff’s injuries. For instance, if there is an unsafe condition around the hotel pool, such as a gaping hole or a broken pool ladder, then it is more likely that the plaintiff will be able to prove that the hotel was negligent in a premises liability lawsuit. However, other situations are trickier.

In instances in which parents rely on a swim instructor or activities instructor at the hotel to provide reasonable care for their kids, then the hotel may be liable, even if the parents sign a waiver. For example, in the California Supreme Court case of Santa Barbara v. Janeway (2007), the parents signed a waiver regarding their child’s swimming at a summer camp. The court held that, while parents can sign a waiver that removes liability in instances of ordinary negligence, such waivers are unenforceable when there are instances of gross negligence.

Yet other situations are even trickier. What if the pool deck does not have any obvious hazards, but it simply has not been updated in a number of years, and the walkway is slicker than it used to be? Does the question of liability change as soon as the hotel posts warning signs? In most situations, a warning sign will help to show that the hotel exercised reasonable care, but it is always important to seek advice from a personal injury lawyer.

Contact a Rancho Bernardo Hotel Accident Lawyer

If you or your child suffered injuries at a hotel in California, an experienced Rancho Bernardo hotel accident lawyer can assist you. Contact the Walton Law Firm today for more information.

See Related Blog Posts: California Supreme Court Sets Precedent for Negligence Claims Liability When Resort or Hotel Guests Get Hurt

(image courtesy of Ryan Wilson)

How often are mail carriers in California injured by dog bites and animal attacks? According to a recent news release from the U.S. Postal Service, 6,549 mail carriers and other employees were the victims of dog attacks last year. Where did most of the dog bites occur? According to the USPS, Houston, TX was the city with the highest number of dog bites (77 in total), but San Diego was a close second with 58 dog attacks in 2015. Both numbers show an increase from 2014. For example, dog bites rose in Houston by 22%, and they actually rose by 23% in San Diego. In numerous cities across the country, the rate of animal attacks rose. As such, the USPS has made recommendations to help prevent employee dog bite injuries.

Taking Steps to Improve USPS Employee Safety

Given that dog bite injuries are on the rise in many of America’s cities—including in San Diego—the USPS has announced new safety initiatives that are aimed at preventing animal attacks on its employees. As USPS Safety Director Linda DeCarlo explained of the recent increase in dog bites, “dogs are protective in nature and may view our letter carriers handling mail to their owner as a threat.” Yet just because dogs are protective of the properties on which they live does not mean that USPS employees do not have options to be safer when they are doing their jobs.

What are the USPS safety initiatives? Both are intended to “alert USPS carriers of dogs on their delivery routes,” according to the news release, so that the carriers can better avoid an encounter with one of these animals. The first safety initiative already went into effect on May 13, 2016, and it concerns the process of “package pickup.” In California and throughout the country, USPS customers can schedule a package pickup, meaning that they can schedule for a mail carrier to pick up a package from their homes that they are mailing instead of the customer dropping off the package at a local post office. Now, in order for a San Diego customer to schedule a package pickup, she must indicate whether there is a dog living at her address.

The second safety initiative will go into effect later on this spring. It allows mail carriers to make an electronic note of a dog’s presence when they deliver a package. In short, when a mail carrier asks a USPS customer to sign for a package through a mobile delivery device, the mail carrier will also be able to “indicate the presence of a dog at an individual address,” according to DeCarlo. How will this help to prevent dog bites? As DeCarlo explained, “this is especially helpful to substitutes who fill-in for letter carriers on their days off.”

Customers Can Takes Preventive Measures, Too

In addition to safety initiatives that help mail carriers to know about the presence of a dog, the news release also emphasizes that residential customers can also take preventive measures when it comes to dog attacks. The USPS recommends that customers with dogs take the following steps:

• Place your dog in a separate, secure room when a USPS carrier delivers mail or a package to your home;
• 
  Keep your dog safely secured in your home anytime a delivery person comes to the door; and
• 
  Encourage your child to avoid taking mail from a USPS carrier within view of the family dog.

If you have questions about filing a personal injury claim due to a dog bite wound, an experienced San Diego dog bite attorney can assist you. Contact the Walton Law Firm today for more information.

See Related Blog Posts: Dog Bites and Blacklisted Pets Should California Have a Dangerous Dogs Act?

(photo courtesy of Dodgerton Skillhaus)

Injuries to older adults can happen in many places and they can have numerous causes. In some cases, intentional bad acts from elder abuse can result in serious personal injuries to California seniors. At the same time, as the body ages it becomes more fragile and prone to slip and fall injuries. Given the frailty of many elderly persons, another party’s negligence can quickly become deadly. In some cases, it is in the very homes of older adults in California that injuries occur. How can you ensure that your home is safe? If an elderly loved one lives at home, how can you be certain that your loved one is not at risk of preventable injuries? These are questions that were posed recently in an article in the San Diego Union-Tribune.

Identifying Potential Hazards in Your House

About 90% of older adults in America say that they want to remain in their own homes—they do not want to have to move to an assisted-living facility or nursing home. However, hidden dangers may be lurking in their houses that would not pose a threat to a younger resident but could lead to a serious accident for someone of retirement age.

Many common features of Southern California homes could lead to a serious fall that results in broken bones—or worse. Some of the typical features of a house to which the article points include:

• Upstairs bedrooms;
• Bathtub that requires you to climb into it;
• Cabinets up high; and
• Appliances in low cupboards.

As one retired San Diego architect explained, “most San Diego homes are an injury minefield” for seniors who cannot get around as easily. He went on to emphasize, “We’re dealing with an enormous segment of our society and what concerns me is that people are not safe on their own.” The irony is that San Diego prides itself on being a welcoming community with many opportunities for outdoor activities, regardless of age, year-round. Yet for many San Diego residents who enjoy the outdoors, the indoor parts of their lives could end up being the most hazardous.

How to Prevent Accidents

As the San Diego population continues to age, we need to think more carefully about the safety of our homes and social spaces. Slip and fall accidents can happen anywhere, to be sure, but they do not have to happen in domestic spaces. Although simply asking an older adult to climb the stairs or to step into a bathtub may not be considered negligence under the law, it is important to remember that we do have a duty to keep our properties free of hazards to those we invite inside.

In other words, if an entryway is wet from a rainstorm, it is the responsibility of the property owner to clean it up before someone gets hurt in a slip and fall accident. In terms of the structure and design of homes, elder advocates in the San Diego area have proposed a number of new living developments that would cater to elderly residents by providing some of the following:

• Single-story models;
• Lower cabinets in the kitchen and bathroom; and
• Carpeted, rather than slick tiled, floors.

Falls are the leading cause of fatal and nonfatal injuries in older adults, according to a fact sheet from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). If you or an elderly loved one recently suffered an injury in a slip and fall accident, you may be able to file a claim for financial compensation. An experienced San Diego slip and fall lawyer can discuss your case with you today. Contact the Walton Law Firm to learn more about our services.

See Related Blog Posts: Seniors Suffer Long-Term Injuries from Auto Accidents OSHA Cracks Down on Nurse Injuries