Can a Personal Injury Lawyer Help you with a Sports Injury?

by Anthony Bazouni, Principal

For many, an injury during a sport is a rite of passage. It’s never thought of as a ‘personal injury’ and often, is overlooked by the person who sustained the injury, their teammates and the inflicter of the injury. While it is easy to bypass simple and non-life-threatening sports injuries such as sprains and fractures, more serious injuries have a long road to recovery and may be subject to personal injury compensation. 

Sports injuries do more than just damage you physically, but they can also hurt your mental and emotional health as well as severely burden you financially. This is one of the reasons why you should seek compensation through a personal injury lawyer sydney. Medical bills, in addition to the loss of income as a result of your injury, can mount and severely impact your economic resources. To move on from your injury, it’s important that you get the support that you need and deserve. However, claiming compensation is not as easy as can be – some cases are more complex than others.

When can you file a personal injury compensation claim for your sports injury?

You cannot claim compensation for every injury sustained while playing a sport. With some sports, the danger exists and it is understandable that you are taking a risk while engaging with a specific type of sport. For example, getting hit in the head with a ball while playing cricket is an injury that, while serious, one can be subject to while playing. 

Even with more extreme sports such as mountain biking or bungee jumping, the risk of injury remains and there is an expectation that an accident may occur. However, in some cases, you may still be able to claim compensation. 

The best way of determining whether you can claim compensation is by consulting a personal injury lawyer from Prominent Lawyers. Sports injuries are often complex personal injury cases. Our personal injury lawyers are equipped with the specialised knowledge to establish whether your case has a viable chance of success.

The following persons may be able to claim compensation:

• Professional athletes
• Amateur athletes
• University, college or school students
• Employees injured in sporting events organised by work

Who do you claim compensation from? Who is ultimately responsible?

These are obvious questions that arise when one is injured playing a sport, especially since there are many parties at play. Usually, the duty of care (a legal obligation to take reasonable steps to not cause foreseeable harm to people) lies with the person who has organised the event. They must ensure that the sport is as safe as possible, ensuring that foreseeable injuries are prevented.

Your compensation case lies when this duty is breached and you are injured as a result. 

How do you breach a duty of care?

Understandably, breaching a duty of care differs from sport to sport. At its core, breaching a duty of care means taking obvious and sensible steps to prevent injuries that may, obviously, be caused by the sport. For example, faulty defective sporting equipment or mismanaged/inadequate supervision by a trainee or instructor are all a breach of reasonable steps that should have been taken to provide care. Depending on the sport, the steps taken to provide care will differ.

What can you claim for if you are injured?

If you are injured while playing a sport as a result of a breach in the duty of care by the organiser or person in authority of the event, then you may be able to claim the following (dependent on your injury).

• Medical treatment (including aftercare costs such as physiotherapy).
• Loss of wages and superannuation as a result of the injury.
• Damages for emotional, physical and mental pain and suffering.
• Costs associated with at-home care such as a domestic assistant.
• Costs needed to modify one’s home to accommodate the injury.

The type of care you need will be dependent on the injury that you have. Your injury may require all of the services above or some that are not mentioned on this list. 

So what do you do when you sustain an injury while playing a sport?

There are a few crucial steps that you should follow when you are injured during a sport.

1. Seek immediate medical treatment
2. Record the details of your incident
3. Report the incident to management/a person in authority
4. Keep your records/evidence
5. Seek professional legal advice from Prominent Lawyers.

Our Prominent Lawyers team is here to guide you through your personal injury compensation case. We understand how complex sports injury compensation cases can be and will calmly answer any questions and concerns you may have and offer you the best legal advice and guidance for your situation. Our lawyers are here to support you and get you the help you need.

*The contents in this article are solely intended to provide general information in summary and do not constitute legal advice. We recommend seeking the assistance of a legal professional to discuss any matters at hand.