Many family summer traditions involve camping and it can indeed be a great time. Whether you are setting up a tent in the deep woods or parking an RV at a campground, there are always risks involved. In some cases, injuries and accidents are nothing more than bad luck. In other instances, another person or party may be responsible.
If you were injured while camping, or a loved one was, then you may have grounds to file a personal injury lawsuit. Read on to find out what may make another person liable for injuries and what to do if they are. Then contact Law Offices of Fernando D. Vargas at 909-982-0707 for your free legal consultation.
Potentially hazardous situations you may encounter while camping
There a number of potential hazards you could come across while camping. For example you may come across dangerous wildlife, or you may become injured on a poorly maintained trail. You could even have a slip and fall accident on a wet floor in a campground shower.
Property owners can only be held accountable if they did not keep their property in “reasonably safe” conditions. What does this mean? That they can only be held accountable if they knew about or should have reasonably known about the hazard, if the hazard was not so obvious that the average person could have avoided it, and if there were not appropriate warning signs in place.
For example, if you were on a campground and a tree fell on your tent and injured you, would the campground owner be responsible? If the tree was in good health and there was no reason the owner could have known the accident was likely to occur, then it is likely they would not be responsible. On the other hand, if the tree was dead and in danger of falling and they did nothing, then they could be held responsible.
If you are injured in a state park or other public land then you will have an uphill battle
If the accident occurred either in a state park or on another type of public land, then your case will be more complicated compared to a case against a private campground. This is because government has numerous types of immunity against these claims, including trail immunity that protects them from liability in the event there were defects or hazards on their trails or paths, design immunity that protects them in the event the design was an issue, and hazardous recreational activity immunity, which protects them in the event the victim was involved in a dangerous activity.
There are always options
While it may be more complicated to sue the government if the injury occurred on public land, it is not impossible. Likewise, if you were injured on a tour in which you signed a waiver, you still have options. If you were injured and believe that someone else or another entity was at least partially at fault then it is worth it to contact a personal injury attorney for a free legal consultation.
