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Protecting Yourself From a Swimming Pool Accident
LIZA: Thank you Liam. Well, as you just heard, we’re in the dog days of summer, and in this heat wave we’re in, a lot of people are diving into their swimming pools to cool off. But who’s responsible if someone gets injured swimming in your backyard pool? John Philp from Preszler Law is here to talk about that. Good morning.
JOHN: Thanks for having me again.
LIZA: We were just chatting, I said, I love swimming but pools make me nervous when they’re your own pool and your own backyard, it just seems like it opens up the possibility for a lot of trouble.
JOHN: This is, this is a great topic, and inevitably, a couple times a summer we get phone calls at our office of people seriously injured because of a pool mishap in their backyard. As a homeowner, you are the one who has the ultimate responsibility if someone is injured in your swimming pool. And that can be devastating emotionally, but also financially. If you don’t have enough insurance that would cover this type of injury, um, you’re looking at some pretty serious consequences to yourself and your family.
LIZA: And since you mentioned insurance, talk about for a second, and the way that you can get quite a sizeable amount of coverage for not too much money.
JOHN: Yeah, well, typically what we see with swimming pool injuries is it’s usually a spinal cord injury, some sort of uh, you know, person, is - dove into the pool, not expecting it to be a certain depth, and didn’t judge it properly - neck, back injuries are very common. Uh, which can result in someone becoming a parapeligic, or quadriplegic even, and these types of claims are very serious. And usually, people, for their homeowner’s insurance, have a million dollars in place. Um, for that type of injury, it’s going to go beyond that million dollar policy limit very quickly. So typically, insurance companies don’t really like you to know this, so this is a little secret that I’m going to share with you. There’s called an umbrella policy. So if you have your homeowner’s insurance and your auto insurance with the same company, you can approach your broker and say, look, I’d like to get an umbrella policy, which means that you can get up to about five million dollars in coverage for both your vehicle and your home. And five million dollars goes a lot farther than a million dollars in these types of injury claims involving swimming pools.
LIZA: So are you on the hook regardless of the circumstances, if it happens in your pool, on your property?
JOHN: Well, no, I - listen, we’ve talked about this many times before, Liza, and it always depends on the circumstances for a personal injury case. But, as a homeowner, you have to take certain precautions to make sure that your pool is safe. For example, if it’s a shallow pool, you have to put signs up that say “No Diving,” and that has to be very clear. You know, having one sign behind a potted plant that says “No Diving” is not going to be sufficient if someone injures themselves diving into your shallow pool. You have to take reasonable steps in the circumstances. And the same law that we’ve talked about in previous situations, the home - or, sorry, the Occupiers’ Liability Act, is also applicable here, and it requires that homeowners take reasonable steps in the circumstances to ensure the safety of people attending at their property.
LIZA: Right. And that was - let’s say you have teenage kids, you’re not home, they have a party, someone gets hurt in the pool and you’re not even there.
JOHN: Yeah.
LIZA: The same rules apply, if you put up signs and things, and -
JOHN: Yeah, absolutely, and you know, alcohol is always - well, not always, but very often a factor in these sort of circumstances, and, you know, that can factor into who’s at fault for the accident. For example, if someone’s very intoxicated, goes swimming in your pool, and injures themselves, they’re going to have a certain degree of responsibility for their own injuries. But again, as the homeowner, you’re also gonna very likely share in that responsibility as well.
LIZA: All right, John Philp from Preszler Law, thanks again, good to see you.
JOHN: Always a pleasure.
LIZA: We’re going to take a look at traffic now. Here’s Kim.
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151 Eglinton Ave W,
Toronto, ON
M4R 1A6
Toronto, ON
M4R 1A6
Tel: (416) 364-2000
Fax: 1-855-364-7027
Toll Free: 1-888-608-2111
2 County Ct Blvd #400,
Brampton, ON
L6W 3W8
Brampton, ON
L6W 3W8
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Whitby, ON
L1N 1C4
Whitby, ON
L1N 1C4
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92 Caplan Ave #121,
Barrie, ON
L4N 0Z7
Barrie, ON
L4N 0Z7
Tel: (705) 722-0500
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London, ON
N6A 5B5
London, ON
N6A 5B5
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East Tower Mississauga, ON
L5N 6A6
East Tower Mississauga, ON
L5N 6A6
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Toll Free: 1-888-608-2111
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Peterborough, ON
K9H 3R9
Peterborough, ON
K9H 3R9
Tel: (705) 743-6666
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22 Frederick Street,
Suite 700
Kitchener, ON N2H 6M6
Suite 700
Kitchener, ON N2H 6M6
Tel: (519)741-0001
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Toll Free: 1-888-608-2111
*consultation offices
DISCLAIMER: Please be advised that the header image and other images throughout this website may include both lawyer and non-lawyer/paralegal employees of Preszler Injury Lawyers and DPJP Professional Corporation and unrelated third parties. Our spokesperson John Fraser, or any other non-lawyer/paralegals in our marketing is not to be construed in any way as misleading to the public. Our marketing efforts are not intended to suggest qualitative superiority to other lawyers, paralegals or law firms in any way. Any questions regarding the usage of non-lawyers in our legal marketing or otherwise can be directed to our management team. Please also note that past results are not indicative of future results and that each case is unique and that case results listed on site are from experiences across Canada and are not specific to any province. Please be advised that some of the content on this website may be out of date. None of the content is intended to act as legal advice as each situation is independent and unique and requires individual legal advice from a licensed lawyer or paralegal. For legal advice on your individual situation – we can provide legal guidance after you have contacted our firm and we have established a lawyer-client relationship contractually. Maximum contingency fee charged is 33%. Finally, our usage of awards and logos for awards does not suggest qualitative superiority to other lawyers, paralegals or law firms. All awards received from third party organizations have been done so through their own reasonable evaluative process and do not include any payment for these awards except for the use of the award logos for our marketing assets. We are also proud to service additional provinces like Alberta, British Columbia and Nova Scotia.
DISCLAIMER: Please be advised that the header image and other images throughout this website may include both lawyer and non-lawyer/paralegal employees of Preszler Injury Lawyers and DPJP Professional Corporation and unrelated third parties. Our spokesperson John Fraser, or any other non-lawyer/paralegals in our marketing is not to be construed in any way as misleading to the public. Our marketing efforts are not intended to suggest qualitative superiority to other lawyers, paralegals or law firms in any way. Any questions regarding the usage of non-lawyers in our legal marketing or otherwise can be directed to our management team. Please also note that past results are not indicative of future results and that each case is unique and that case results listed on site are from experiences across Canada and are not specific to any province. Please be advised that some of the content on this website may be out of date. None of the content is intended to act as legal advice as each situation is independent and unique and requires individual legal advice from a licensed lawyer or paralegal. For legal advice on your individual situation – we can provide legal guidance after you have contacted our firm and we have established a lawyer-client relationship contractually. Maximum contingency fee charged is 33%. Finally, our usage of awards and logos for awards does not suggest qualitative superiority to other lawyers, paralegals or law firms. All awards received from third party organizations have been done so through their own reasonable evaluative process and do not include any payment for these awards except for the use of the award logos for our marketing assets. We are also proud to service additional provinces like Alberta, British Columbia and Nova Scotia.
