Gym Accidents Are On The Increase
While most people try to be safe while at the gym, learning the proper way to utilize the equipment to make sure that they stay safe and sound, there are times when accidents do occur.
When this happens, you may sustain a number of injuries and pain and suffering that add medical bills and can make you miss out on work.
When you are in a gym accident, it is important to find a gym accident lawyer in your area to help you get the right representation. With all of the heavy equipment present in a gym, many of the injuries you may experience will be severe and can cause a lot of pain, even keeping you off of work. Our professional personal injury attorneys can take a look at your case and will make sure you get the compensation you deserve.
What Types of Injuries Happen at Gyms?
The first thing to look at are the different types of injuries that may occur at a gym. Some of the accidents that you may experience are minor including a scrape or a bruise when you run into a piece of equipment. In more serious matters, it is possible that the injuries can be something like a sprain, dislocation, concussion, or fractures. In the worst cases, it is possible that the injuries can be fatal, or a permanent disability including brain damage, paralysis, or amputation.
Most of the injuries that happen at gyms occur because of the equipment. In fact, treadmills are one of the most dangerous options at a gym. Many visitors of the gym will go too fast on a treadmill and end up falling. Sometimes they fall and just scrape something, but other times they can fall and hit their head on something.
Treadmills are not the only place where an accident can happen. It is possible for any type of gym equipment to be dangerous. Some of the main culprits here are rowing machines, chin-up bars, exercise balls, and weights to name a few. There have even been individuals who have been hurt with an exercise band at the gym.
Premise liability injuries can happen as well if the gym does not take proper care of the property around the gym. For example, if there are loose weights around the gym floor or the managers of the gym do not clean up spills inside and ice on the outside, then someone who falls and gets injured may have a claim for personal injury.
And finally, it is possible that you may experience illness while at the gym. If the gym employees do not perform proper cleaning of the area, you could get sick. All the germs left behind from other gym members, especially if they are left there for a long time, can make you ill and can become a serious issue too.
Who Is Responsible for a Gym Injury?
When filing a gym accident claim, it is important to know who is responsible for the injury. While most gym members who attend the gym often will get injured at one point or another, either from bad workout form or overexterting themselves, there are times when the fault of the injury is due to negligence of the gym staff or building. If you overexert yourself too much while at the gym, then the injury is your fault. If you get hurt while walking in the front door because the gym does not clear the ice off, then it is the fault of the gym for the accident.
There are a few classifications that come up here that we need to look at. We first need to look at something known as premise users under what is known as premises liability law. When you become a member of a gym, you are considered a guest of that gym. This means that the gym you frequent has a legal duty to make sure the gym is always safe for you to use.
Keep in mind that not all occupants who go into the gym will have the same rights as guests or invitees. For example, a licensee who does not have a direct contractual relationship with the owner are given a lower duty of care in these cases. And a trespasser who goes onto the premise against the wishes or without the knowledge of the owner of the premise will often have no protections from the law at all.
What Should I Do After an Injury at My Gym?
When you are injured after being in a gym, there are a few steps you can take. These will ensure that you get the medical attention that you deserve and that you have a better chance of getting a settlement out of your claim. Some of the steps to take include:
Get Medical Attention
After your injury, you need to seek medical attention right away. If you are injured severely, it is likely the staff will call an ambulance. It is important that you do not refuse treatment, even if you do not think the injury is that bad. If you are not severely injured, you still need to visit a doctor, preferably that day, to help you get a record of the injury.
Gather Up Evidence
While you are still in the club, you need to gather up the right evidence. If possible, you need to take as many pictures of that accident as you can, adding in more angles if possible. Also, take the time to request names and any contact information of those who saw the accident as possible too. Your personal injury attorney can take a look at this evidence and use it later to build up your cause.
Since many gyms have security cameras around, you may need to get a copy of the video if possible. If not, let your attorney know whether the security cameras were in use and they can work to gather this video to use as evidence later.
A lot of the evidence that you will need for your claim will be gathered up later. For example, when you visit the doctor after leaving the gym, you will need to gather records of all those visits. Keep an informal journal if you can about the injuries you have and how they are interfering with your daily life. Both of these will help work as proof of the accident and the severity of it later.
Avoid Contact with the Gym
While you are working with your lawyer and building up a case, it is important to not talk directly to the gym or to their representatives, make statements, or sign anything. Many gyms will have representatives for liability claims and their main job is to make claim go away, or at least limit the amount of money they have to pay out. Do not offer them an easy opportunity to do this. If anyone asks you a question, defer all of these to your attorney and be careful with who you discuss the case with.
If someone offers you a settlement, do not accept it without consulting your personal injury attorney first. Any settlements that are offered to you without alerting your attorney is often a low-ball offer. You may be tempted to accept the offer and get the claim done with, but this is often a mistake. Once the offer is signed, you can’t take it back or get more settlement out of them later.
Your attorney will be able to work with you to get the right settlement. They can ensure you get enough money to help cover any time you miss from work, your medical bills, and even some of the pain and suffering that you experience from the accident. They can handle all parts of the case for you from gathering evidence to negotiating the best settlement for your needs.
What About The Liability Waiver?
Many gyms do ask their members to sign a liability waiver. Many times these state that the member is not able to hold the gym responsible for an accident that does occur. This can add a bit of a challenge to your claim, but they are not always iron-clad and you may still have a case. You will need to work with a personal injury attorney to help you navigate these waters and determine if you are able to still file a claim or not.
There are a few limitations and restrictions for these liability waivers when they are brought to court.
For example, they can’t be too broad. Second, while they are going to be there to protect a company against being sued for ordinary negligence, they will not offer this same kind of protection for suits of gross negligence.
That means you need to determine whether gross or ordinary negligence occurred before you can start your personal liability claim against a gym when you signed a liability waiver. The main difference between these two is the degree of negligence. Ordinary negligence is usually just minor mistakes that the defendant shouldn’t have made but are not that big of a deal. It could be something like leaving one weight in the way because they forgot.
On the other hand, there is gross negligence. This is negligence that goes above a simple mistakes and can involve conduct that is really careless or behavior that shows a disregard for the basic safety of gym members. If this kind of negligence occurs, then you will have a personal injury claim. A personal injury attorney can look at your case and help you gather up the right evidence to prove gross negligence occurred.
Do I Need a Personal Liability Attorney?
After you are in an accident in a gym, you may wonder if you can handle the claim on your own against the gym or if you need to work with a personal liability attorney. While some individuals do try to handle these accidents on their own, this is often a mistake. The liability team for the gym will often not work together with the individual and you may get a low settlement offer that does not cover what you want.
It is usually best to work with a personal liability lawyer in your area to help you get the best settlement possible after being in an accident at a gym. They are able to handle all of the different parts for you. Our team will take a look at your unique situation and determine if you have a case to work with. We will then gather up evidence with you and answer all of your questions, making sure that our team and you are on the same page the whole time.
Once we decide to work with you on the claim, we will be able to gather up the evidence and work with the insurance company for the gym to help get you the best deal possible. We will even work on negotiating an amount and can represent you in court if negotiations do not work well. We are there to provide you with the best results and settlement option for your gym accident. Do not try to handle your gym accident claim on your own and run into trouble, trust the best personal injury attorney to help you get the right settlement.
If you have ever been in a gym accident and you are working with an injury, it is likely that your medical bills are building up and you may not know how to keep up. It is important to work with a personal injury attorney in your area to make sure you get the compensation that you deserve. The right accident lawyer will look over your case and can make sure you get the money that you deserve. No matter what type of gym accident you have or what kinds of injuries you sustained, you should contact our gym accident lawyers to help with your case right away. “We Win or It’s Free” ®