Swimming Pool | Accident

Swimming Pool | Premises Liability

swimming pool injury cases arise out of a premises liability cause of action. Premises liability is the duty to use reasonable care and skill in the care and management of a property in order to avoid causing harm to anyone on your premises.

Swimming Pool | Duty of Care

Foreseeability of injury, death or harm is weighed by the courts when deciding whether a property owner (not their tenants) owes a duty of care to a child drowning victim. A Court has reasoned that “it is a matter of common experience that children of tender years are guided in their actions by childish instincts, and are lacking in that discretion which is ordinarily sufficient to enable those of more mature years to appreciate and avoid danger, and in proportion to this lack of judgment on their part, the care which must be observed toward them by others is increased.”

Court Holding:  Where the homeowners knew they were renting out a house with a maintained pool, it was foreseeable that children would be on the property. It was also foreseeable that children would approach the pool, regardless of their capacity to swim, thus exposing themselves to the danger of drowning. Thus, the foreseeability of harm to a young child weighs in favor of imposing a duty of care on a homeowner. Johnson v. Prasad (2014) 224 CA4th 74, 80.

Swimming Pool | Negligence Per Se

Anyone who owns or operates a swimming pool must conform to the general duty of care and to statutory requirements.  A party is presumed to have failed to exercise due care if:

• They violated a statute ordinance, or regulation;
• The violation caused harm (injury or death);
• The harm resulted from an occurrence the law was designed to prevent; and
• The person suffering the harm was the of the class of persons for whose protection the law was adopted.

Swimming Pool | Park and Resort Liability

swimming pool inside resorts or amusement parks must meet certain statutory requirements that include:

• Having a lifeguard on duty;
• Having a “no lifeguard on duty” sign; and
• The requirement of a safety rope to separate the deep from the shallow end.

Swimming Pool | Swimming Pool Safety Act

The swimming pool Safety Act (Health and Safety Code section 115922) requires that a new or remodeled pool or spa at a private, single-family home be equipped with at least one of seven enumerated drowning prevention safety features. These features include:

• The pool shall be isolated from access to a home by an enclosure:
  • Whose access gates open away from the swimming pool, and are self-closing with a self-latching device placed no lower than 60 inches above the ground;
  • Is a minimum height of 60 inches;
  • Has a maximum vertical clearance from the ground to the bottom of the enclosure of two inches;
  • Whose gaps or voids, if any, do not allow passage of a sphere equal to or greater than four inches in diameter; and
  • Whose outside surface is free of protrusions, cavities, or other physical characteristics that would serve as handholds or footholds that could enable a child below the age of five years to climb over.
• The pool shall incorporate removable mesh pool fencing that meets American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) specifications;
• The pool shall be equipped with an approved safety pool cover that meets all requirements of the ASTM specifications;
• The residence shall be equipped with exit alarms on those doors providing direct access to the pool;
• All doors providing direct access from the home to the swimming pool shall be equipped with a self-closing, self-latching device with a release mechanism placed no lower than 54 inches above the floor;
• swimming pool alarms that, when placed in pools, will sound upon detection of accidental or unauthorized entrance into the water; and
• Other means of protection, if the degree of protection afforded is equal to or greater than that afforded by any of the devices set forth above.

Ordaz Law, APC | Swimming Pool

Juan J. Ordaz Jr. provides candid, hardworking and personal legal representation to individuals seeking a premises liability, personal injury lawyer in San Diego County. We believe that it is a necessity to represent people who have sustained traumatic and debilitating injuries, and suffered ultimate losses.

Call (619) 550-3617 today so that we may schedule your free and discreet consultation with a premier San Diego premises liability, personal injury lawyer.

We are for Justice no Matter Who it’s for or Against.

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Premises Liability | Personal Injury

Blog: Personal Injury