With the Winter Olympics and snow blanketing most of the U.S., winter sports like skating and snow skiing are more popular than ever. But these activities aren’t without risk. In fact, the founder of St. Louis’s Center Oil Company, one of the city’s largest privately held corporations, died in a Denver hospital after suffering serious injuries in a skiing accident in February.
Most of us understand that barreling down a mountain at 60 miles an hours is a risky endeavor, but does that mean we’re on our own when we’re injured, stuck with a mountain of medical bills and potentially a lifetime of disability and suffering? It depends on whether someone else was responsible for the injuries.
Liability for another person’s injuries is usually predicated on the legal theory of negligence. Whether a person has been negligent, and can be forced to bear at least some of the financial cost of another person’s injuries depends on the answers to a couple of basic questions:
- Did they have a duty to the injured person?
- If so, did they breach that duty?
- Did breaching the duty cause the injuries?
- Finally, did the injured person suffer damages?
If the answer to all five of these questions is “yes,” a person may be held financially responsible for the injured person’s losses. As simple as these questions sound, determining whether a person is responsible for your injuries is a very complex process, best handled by a highly competent, experienced St. Louis personal injury attorney. Whether you were injured while participating in a winter recreational activity or in a car accident caused by icy roads, by selecting the right counsel early in the process you’ll greatly improve your chances of winning your case and getting the compensation you deserve.