Maryland Child Sports Injury Lawyer
Youth sports leagues can provide children the opportunity to exercise while learning communication and life skills as part of a team. While we expect children to experience minor injuries during practices and games, the adults involved in sports leagues still have a duty to prevent severe harm.
Even if you signed liability waivers when enrolling your child in a recreational sports league, there could still be grounds to pursue a personal injury claim for harm your child suffered during practice or competition. Assistance from a Maryland child sports injury lawyer could be crucial to getting the best result possible from your civil claim.
When Can Someone File Suit Over Their Child’s Sports Injury?
Contact sports like basketball, soccer, and especially football pose a significant risk of injury to anyone participating. Even non-contact sports, like baseball, can lead to long-lasting harm. Injuries that children may suffer while practicing for or competing in athletic competitions range from minor muscle sprains to severe brain, spine, or internal organ damage.
It is important to acknowledge that there is an inherent risk of injury with any physical activity. Most youth sports leagues require parents to sign liability waivers that absolve the managing organization of civil liability for accidental injuries. However, there are some situations where coaches, referees, league officials and administrators, and other parties could be considered liable for a child’s sports injury.
Adults involved in running youth sports leagues have a “duty of care” to act in loco parentis while the child is under their supervision. In other words, these parties must protect a child from preventable harm the way the child’s parent would. A coach who makes a child keep playing despite a known injury or who otherwise pushes a child past their reasonable physical limits may be cause for civil litigation. It may also be possible to pursue a civil claim against an individual player who is overly aggressive outside a game’s established rules or against an organization that failed to maintain a playing field or court in a reasonably safe condition. A Maryland attorney could assess the circumstances of a child’s sports injury to determine the strength of a family’s claim to compensation.
Recovering Fairly on a Child’s Behalf
If a child’s sports-related injury serves as a valid basis for litigation, the child’s parents or guardians can pursue compensation on their child’s behalf. This could include seeking payments to cover the economic and non-economic forms of harm their child has and will suffer because of their injury. Examples of recoverable damages in these cases include:
- All costs of injury-related medical care, including expected future expenses
- Lost long-term earning capacity, if an injury has permanent and debilitating consequences
- Physical pain and suffering
- Lost enjoyment/quality of life
- Emotional and psychological distress
The value of a particular claim will depend entirely on the specific injury the child in question sustained and what effects it will have on their life. A legal professional in Maryland could work with a child and their family to determine how a sports injury has impacted their life and what compensation they need to move forward.
Get in Touch with a Maryland Child Sports Injury Attorney Today
No one wants their child participating in a youth sports league or playing for a school team where negligent adults allow or push them to suffer long-lasting injuries. Taking proactive legal action under these circumstances could be the best way to seek justice on your child’s behalf and protect other children from future harm.
Pursuing compensation when sports leagues and schools work to absolve themselves of liability could be difficult without a compassionate Maryland child sports injury lawyer on your side. Call today for a private consultation.
