I’ve recently had a sports injury – who is liable?

For people involved in sports injury claims an essential question to be answered before any claim can proceed is ‘who is actually liable?’ This issue is a little more complicated with sports injury claims than it is in ordinary personal injury claims which involve a road traffic accident, a fall or an accident at work.

The reason for the additional complication is that people taking part in organized sporting events must consent to a limited risk of injury which is natural and inherent to the nature and rules of the sport. This means that the person causing your injury must do so above and beyond the limits of that risk, which can be difficult to determine.

In general, the person liable for your sporting injury will fall into one of four liability scenarios.

The four most common liability scenarios

§  In a team sport, another player can be liable. This occurs when the player violates the rules of the game. The rules define the limits and nature of the risk to which you have consented, so if a player goes beyond these and causes you injury then they can be personally liable. This would include, for instance, a dangerous and illegal tackle in football that breaks someone’s leg.

§  The organisers of the sport are liable. This could be the club, charity or other organisation which organises the event and takes the role of supplying the equipment and facilities. If they fail to maintain these facilities properly then they can be liable as the ultimately responsible party.

The following liability scenarios can overlap with the liability of the organisers in some cases, but in others will be entirely separate and create distinct categories.

§  The sports officials can be liable. A referee, umpire or coach can sometimes be liable if they fail in their duties to maintain safety during the game. This liability can be subsumed under the liability of the organisers in some cases, but in others the officials will be independent contractors.

§  The provider of any medical assistance can be liable. Again paramedics, doctors or other kinds of therapists are not generally fully supervised employees of the organisers, but will often be independent people. For this reason they will carry their own insurance for liability sports injuries.

How to proceed with sports injury claims

Accident Advice Helpline has dealt with liability scenarios which fall outside of these discreet categories, but these are extremely rare cases which rest on their own facts. In the main, sports injury claims will fall within the above categories, each of which Accident Advice Helpline is very experienced in handling. For more information on who might be liable for sports injury claims, and for how much, get in touch with Accident Advice Helpline through the online claims compensation calculator or through the number at the top of the page.