Drowning Deaths

Poolside accidents and boating accidents can have the most devastating consequences imaginable – the drowning death of a loved one. Many Maine citizens enjoy their summers by swimming in a friend’s pool, or enjoying the ocean tides while taking a boat adventure for leisure, swimming, or to fish. Whatever the water-related activity may be, there is always a chance that someone may be seriously injured or killed.

When a person has died as a result of a drowning accident, loved ones often want to know why and how such a horrific thing could happen. While there are certainly situations where a person may have drowned simply because he or she does not know how to swim, and took a chance by trying to swim anyway, most drowning deaths often involve the negligent conduct of another person or party. A person or party has been negligent when the conduct in question was below the standard of care, and the conduct was the cause of the innocent victim’s death.

Drowning deaths typically occur in any one of the following situations, however, this list certainly does not cover any and all of the possibilities in which a person may drown due to another party’s negligent conduct.

• Boating Accidents – If a boat owner has caused a collision with another boat, and a passenger has fallen overboard and drowned, the boat owner may be held liable for causing the death. On the other hand, if a boating accident is caused by another boat owner, that other boat owner may be found liable for the passenger’s drowning death.
• Swimming Pool Accidents – If conditions in and around a swimming pool are unsafe, and such unsafe conditions lead to an accident that results in a drowning death, the owner of the pool (or spa or hot tub) may be held liable for causing the drowning death of another.
• Failure to Adhere to Safety Measures – Boat owners must have certain safety gear on their boats to assist in the event of an emergency. If a boat owner does not have proper equipment, such as lifejackets, or life preserver rings to help save a passenger if he or she cannot get back on the boat while at sea, then the boat owner may be held liable for causing the drowning death of another.
• Unsupervised Swimming – Swimming pool owners have a duty to ensure small children are supervised. Thus, if a child is left unattended and drowns while in a pool, the owner may be found liable for this drowning death.

Regardless of how a drowning death has occurred, there is always the potential that some person or party acted negligently in some way. Typically, the negligent party involved is the owner of the property involved in the accident, whether the property is a boat, a pool, a swimming dock, or some other type of water-related property. As such, if you have lost a loved one due to a drowning death, it is imperative that you speak with a Maine drowning death accident attorney right away so that your loved one’s potential case can be evaluated in detail.

Peter Thompson & Associates understands just how tragic a drowning death can be, and how important it is to have the best legal representation possible to pursue a lawsuit. Our law offices conveniently provide legal services to injured individuals and their loved ones all over the state of Maine, with three convenient offices located in Portland, which is our main office, Falmouth, and Bangor. To schedule a consultation with one of our Maine drowning death accident attorneys, contact us today by calling toll-free at 1 800.804.2004, or you may contact us online and we will respond to you as soon as possible.