When is the last time you jumped off of a diving board? If you aren’t a frequent member of an Olympic style pool or a recreational pool known for its diving team, then the likelihood of seeing or using a diving board is probably slim to none. Why is that? If you look at pool pictures or movies portraying the 70’s, there are diving boards all over the place. People didn’t get tired of having diving boards, instead, people started getting hurt while on the diving board. Our Los Angeles Catastrophic Accident Attorneys at Compass Law Group, LLP has seen first hand the traumatic injuries that come with pools and diving boards. Because we believe in representing people who have gone through the worst, we fight for clients who have been injured due to the negligence of someone or some party.
History of Pools and Catastrophe.
In the early 1990s, a profound case changed the landscape for how insurance companies viewed diving boards. Shawn Meneely was 14 when he was playing on the diving board at a neighbor’s house. Out of all the fun diving positions, he chose to do the “suicide dive”. To perform this dive you catapult yourself high into the air and come down head first without hands protecting you. Needless to say, this suicide dive nearly killed him. Meneely was paralyzed from the neck down. The family sued the pool builder, diving board manufacturer, and the National Spa & Pool Institute (NSPI).
Meneely’s family won the case because they stated that NSPI knew about the dangers of using a diving board since the 1970s when another landmark case was successful against diving board manufacturers. Meneely’s attorney suggested that instead of releasing all the information about the dangers of diving boards, they attempted to hide information through the program “Steer up”. The program attempted to tell everyone how to properly dive, but it was not as successful as planned. Between the 1970’s case and the Meneely’s case, diving boards have taken a back seat as an addition to personal and public pools.
Catastrophic Injuries
Pools and diving boards can turn a sunny fun day into an emergency medical mess. Catastrophic injuries are life-changing injuries such as paralysis, brain injury, lumbar, cervical, or spinal injury, and burn injuries. All of these injuries require heavy medical attention with results that change your life forever. Imagine, splashing about one minute and losing control of your whole body the next minute. In an event like this, you need someone with savvy legal knowledge to ensure that you are getting the treatment you deserve.
If you or someone you love is suffering from a catastrophic injury due to the negligence of someone or some party then our Los Angeles Catastrophic Accident Attorneys are here for you. We have the knowledge and experience to get your case heard. Because we believe in not getting paid until you do, we will cover all the costs of like travel and investigations.