In the United Kingdom, if you have been injured as a result of somebody else’s negligence, you are able to obtain compensation from the negligent party to put you back in the position you would have been in had the accident not have happened.
At The Injury Lawyers, we typically deal with injuries that arise from road traffic accidents and accidents at work, or those out and about in your local town centre – but so long as you have been injured through someone else’s negligence, claiming for compensation is not confined to these types of accident.
A further type of injury claim is one for injuries that people have sustained whilst playing sport. However, there are many things to consider when assessing the prospects of success of a sporting injury claim. Firstly, what you have to realise is that, when you play sport, you are accepting the inherent risks of injury involved with that particular sport. For instance, if you are a boxer, you are accepting that you will get punched in the face and might end up with a black eye or a broken nose. In rugby, you are accepting that you are going to face some tough, heavy challenges for the ball, which carries an inherent risk of injury in doing so.
What has to be considered is whether the injury you picked up whilst playing sport could be expected, and whether by playing that sport you accepted this risk. In many cases you will have, and therefore the prospects of success for any injury claim is, unfortunately, low. That said, this is in no way to say that there are no injury claims that cannot be successful where they have arisen in the sporting arena.
If someone has been negligent and you have been injured as a result, you can make a claim for compensation and should run your accident circumstances and injuries by a quality injury lawyer straight away. In football you know you will get tackled, but you do not accept that someone may purposely do a kung-fu kick type tackle and break your leg. You may well have a claim for compensation in such circumstances where no malice is involved (say the other team is losing and the player loses their cool). Similarly, if your injury has been made worse by not having been supplied with the right equipment, then there may be a claim for negligence against those who set up the event you were taking part in. Those who set up or officiate sporting activities are under a duty to ensure that all reasonable precautions are taken and that those participating are not exposed to any unnecessary risks. Your equipment must not be defective and the facilities you are using must be properly maintained.
If you have suffered an injury whilst playing sport and believe that this may be due to somebody else’s negligence, get in touch with The Injury Lawyers today and we will be able to advise and assess your potential claim for free.
