Injuries at Festivals and Large Events: What Are Your Legal Options?

Injuries at festivals and large events can be serious and even catastrophic, leading to exorbitant medical bills and lost wages. Whether it be due to inadequate security, negligent setup, or overcrowding, you deserve compensation when someone else’s carelessness causes you harm. Determining the liable party will be based on your specific circumstances, with more than one party being found responsible in many cases. As always, at HGSK Injury Lawyers, our Philadelphia personal injury lawyers will provide fierce advocacy as you go up against the insurance company.

Proving Liability

If you were injured while attending a music festival, local fair, or other public event, you will need to demonstrate the wrongful party’s negligence. The elements of negligence include:

Duty of Care

The responsible party had a responsibility to keep you safe. At a festival or public venue, security companies, vendors, event organizers, and venue owners have certain legal responsibilities to attendees. For example, venue owners have a responsibility to ensure sanitary conditions and to oversee evacuation procedures. Likewise, security companies have a duty to de-escalate fights and supervise crowd control (such as setting physical barriers to guide foot traffic).

Breach of Duty

Through either failing to recognize hazards or to uphold their duties, the liable party breached their duty of care. This may involve a venue owner who does not inspect the property for hazards (such as wobbly steps), or a security team member who does not put the proper measures in place to prevent trampling.

Causation

The violation of this duty caused you to suffer harm.

Damages

As a result of the injury, you suffered physical, emotional, and financial damages. Common damages from festival injuries include medical bills, lost wages, and emotional distress.

Can I Sue the Responsible Party if I Signed a Release of Liability Waiver?

These days, many festivals require participants to sign a release of liability waiver before setting foot on an amusement park ride or taking part in festival activities. This waiver releases the festival organizers and other parties from legal responsibilities for certain injuries and damages. Basically, the waiver will state that by attending the event, you realize that you assume a risk of being injured, but that you agree not to sue the venue.

Unfortunately, the defendant will most certainly raise this assumption of risk defense if you do take legal action. However, if you can show that you did not understand the known risks of a certain activity or that the responsible entity’s actions were reckless, grossly negligent, or intentional, a court will most likely deem the waiver invalid or inapplicable.

Premises Liability versus Product Liability Claims

Festival injuries can fall under premises liability or product liability claims. While these are both types of personal injury claims, premises liability holds a party responsible when the premises contribute to an unsafe condition, thereby causing harm. At a festival or large event, this could involve an attendee twisting an ankle on a broken walkway or understaffed security, which results in a fight. (In this case, you may be able to sue both the venue owner, event organizer, and the security company.

This differs from a product liability claim, which holds a party legally accountable when a product defect causes harm. At a festival, this may include consuming rotten food or being injured on a malfunctioning ride, allowing you to sue the specific vendor or ride manufacturer, respectively. In most circumstances, you do not need to prove that the party was negligent, but rather that the defect existed, you used the product in a foreseeable way, and that you suffered harm (known as strict liability).

Protecting Your Rights

Proving that the venue was responsible for your injuries requires ample evidence. Following injuries at a festival or public event, pictures of your physical injuries, eyewitness statements, maintenance reports of the venue, and incident reports can all help to support your case. The particular evidence that will support your claim will be based on your specific case. Getting medical attention immediately will create a medical record of the severity and extent of your injuries. This can help you get the compensation you deserve.

In many cases, you may be able to file an injury claim through the festival’s liability insurance. This will allow you to recover compensation for your medical bills, lost wages, and other out-of-pocket expenses. Each vendor is also required to carry liability insurance, so you can file a claim through their independent insurer.

As always, our Philadelphia personal injury lawyers will handle insurance negotiations in your stead. Our legal team refuses to settle until you recover full compensation for your financial and non-financial damages (such as pain and suffering, emotional distress, and post-traumatic stress disorder). If your injuries exceed insurance liability limits or insurance refuses to pay, then you may consider filing a personal injury suit.

Reach Out to Our Philadelphia Personal Injury Attorneys Today

If you have been injured at a local fair, art festival, or any type of public venue, our Philadelphia personal injury lawyers would like to speak with you. Having helped over 26,000 injured people recover just compensation, HGSK Injury Lawyers is eager to assist many more. To learn the true worth of your festival injury case, contact us online or by calling (267) 551-8782 to schedule your free consultation.