As your kids finish out the final few weeks of school in Westminster, their attention will inevitably start to turn to all of the fun that awaits them during the summer. One activity that nearly every kid looks forward to is swimming. Yet as a concerned parent, you know the dangers that a swimming pool can pose to children. While you do your best to advise your children of these risks, their excitement at being poolside might overrule those warnings. Your hope, then, is that pool owners will take the necessary precautions to restrict your kids’ access to them. Many come to us here at Ciancio Ciancio Brown PC questioning what legal recourse may be available to them when that does not happen.
The attractive nuisance doctrine is a legal principle which places the responsibility on property owners whose lands feature attractive yet dangerous artificial elements to protect children from them. The reasoning behind this doctrine is that children often lack the comprehension needed to see the dangers that an element (such as a swimming pool) can possess. According to the Cornell Law School, the attractive nuisance doctrine applies even in cases where your children might have been in another’s pool without their permission.
There are measures that a property owner can take, however, that mitigate their liability when it comes to attractive nuisances. If, for example, a pool owner places a fence around a pool, then that may satisfy the demand the doctrine requires for protection children from the pool’s dangers. You can learn more about assigning liability in personal injury cases by continuing to browse through our site.