Lightning Strike Accidents

Premises liability laws protect people injured in preventable accidents at places of business. The summer is peak season for premises liability claims, because of accidents at places of recreation. The operators of recreational facilities have a legal duty to keep the premises in safe condition. It is clearly a case of negligence if a trampoline or amusement park ride breaks or if a zoo animal gets close enough to injure visitors; business owners could have easily prevented these accidents by properly maintaining the structures and equipment at their facilities. Lightning strikes are, by nature, unpredictable. They are acts of nature that humans cannot prevent. Even though business owners cannot prevent lightning from striking, they can prevent people from being in places where the lightning can injure them. Lightning strikes tall structures, and in an open field, it might strike the ground. A person standing under a tree or out in the open is at risk of death or catastrophic injury from a lightning strike. Swimming pools are among the most dangerous places to be in a lightning storm, because lightning travels quickly through the water, so you can still get injured if the lightning strikes the water far from you. If you have been injured by a lightning strike at an outdoor place of recreation, contact a Columbia premises liability lawyer.

Swimmers Lucky to Be Alive After Lightning Strike at Dominion Park Beach

Lightning strikes do not truly happen out of nowhere, but they can come sooner after the warning signs begin than you might expect. Lightning bolts that strike the ground can begin after the first thunderclap, even if it sounds far away, if the rain has not even started yet, and there is still considerable blue sky visible between the dark clouds.

This is what happened at Dominion Park Beach, a public swimming area near the Lake Murray Dam in Lexington County. Lightning struck a buoy that was attached to a metal cord, injuring the swimmers who were holding onto the cord and the ones who were in the water near the site of the lightning strike. Paramedics treated 18 people on the scene and transported an additional 12 people to nearby hospitals. None of the swimmers had life-threatening injuries.

After the incident, the beach closed to the public for almost a week. This way, local authorities can conduct a safety assessment and change their practices or the setup of the swimming area to prevent such incidents from happening in the future. Premises liability laws protect the injured swimmers, since guests must pay admission to swim at Lake Murray. Recreational land use statutes prevent injured people from invoking premises liability if they get injured in accidents at recreational areas that guests do not have to pay to use.

Let Us Help You Today

The personal injury lawyers at the Stanley Law Group can help you get adequate compensation if you got injured in a lightning strike while swimming.  Contact The Stanley Law Group in Columbia, South Carolina or call (803)799-4700 for a free initial consultation.

Source:

abcnews.go.com/US/20-people-injured-lightning-strike-swimming-south-carolina/story?id=123193802