Ice Rink Falls Liability
Ice rinks are a fall and winter class for dates, family outings, birthday parties, pick up hockey games and more. There’s something magical about bundling up and gliding across the rink, either solo or with loved ones. But what happens if you or someone you love gets bumped or falls at the rink and sustains serious injuries. Do you have any claim for legal action?
The answer: maybe. But before you decide to pursue a legal claim it’s important to take a step back and consider what exactly happened and who was at fault.
Assumption of Risk at Ice Rinks
Just like swimming, ice skating comes with some inherent risk that individuals accept when they step foot into the rink. In legal terms this is referred to as “assumption of risk”.
At the iceskating rink, these include:
- Falling
- Colliding with another person
- Colliding with walls or other structural objects in the rink
In order to have a pursuable legal claim of premise liability against the rink, you’ll need to be able to prove negligence. That means you will need substantial evidence that the injury in question would no have happened if the rink operator had followed certain protocols or if they had not skirted certain safety measures. You’ll also need to be able to prove that the injuries sustained fall outside those that would normally be sustained under an assumption of risk.
Possible Claims
Say you and your family were at a disco themed skate night. Outside the rink, there is a clearly posted sign reading that the capacity for the rink is 150. However, on this night there are clearly over 200 skaters, and as a result of the crammed rink and lack of routes around people one of your gets slammed into and falls. In this case, the rink would be at fault, because they failed to ensure the safety of their guests by limited the number of skates in the rink at any given time.
Additionally, if the staff at the time of the accident were acting aloof, drunk, or if there weren’t enough staff to begin with, you may also have grounds to pursue a legal claim, because they did not provide adequate staff to ensure your safety.
But if you simply slip and fall, you will more than likely have no case whatsoever, as slipping, especially at an ice rink, is an inherent risk in ice skating.
Preventing Ice Rink Slips
Slipping while ice-skating is a given. But here are a few tips to make things easier and decrease your chance of injury.
- Keep your knees bent, with feet staying below your hips
- Keep your shoulder back
- Stick your bottom out a bit and keep hips low
- Don’t look down
Ultimately, no one can prevent injury, and accidents happen every day. If you or a loved one was seriously or fatally injured at an ice skating rink, contact our legal team at Evergreen Personal Injury Council. Our professional staff will work to get you the compensation you deserve.