What Happens if I’m Injured Playing Paintball?
If you or someone you love is injured playing paintball, you could possibly file a personal injury claim and recover damages from your injuries. Paintball can be a very dangerous sport if proper safety measures are not taken or the facility does not operate in a safe manner.
What Kind of Injuries Can Occur While Participating in a Paintball Game?
Most paintball injuries are incurred by minor children and include welts, bruises, and cuts. Other popular injuries include twisted or sprained ankles, shortness of breath if shot in the neck, or more serious injuries involving the eyes and ears.
Eye Injuries
The majority of paintball injuries involve the eyes. The most common eye injuries are vitreous hemorrhages, which are eye bleeds, cataracts, detached retinas, bruising of the retina, and corneal abrasions. These can be serious issues and may lead to lasting visual problems and even blindness.
Ear Injuries
Ear injuries are the next most common paintball injury. If you are shot with a paintball at a close range, you could receive a concussion, severe ringing in your ear (tinnitus), suffer from a ruptured ear drum, or even get cauliflower ear, which is damage to the cartilage in your ear that can result in the outer ear to become disfigured.
Paintball Deaths
There have been a few deaths caused by a paintball accident and as a result, there is now a safety warning on paintball guns. The carbon dioxide cylinder canisters were becoming detached and becoming projectiles, injuring people in their path.
Can You File a Personal Injury Lawsuit if You are Injured While Playing Paintball?
As in any personal injury claim, proving negligence is key to a successful lawsuit. First, you have to determine who was the negligent party. Was it the venue where the accident took place? Was the paintball gun defective? Was it the actions of another player or employee that caused the accident?
Defective Products
If your injury was because of a dangerous or defective paintball mask or gun, you could possibly file a product liability suit against the product’s manufacturer, seller or distributor of the product.
Intentional Acts (Assault or Battery)
If you were injured playing paintball and it was as a result of someone’s intentional action and not an accident, you could have a reason to sue the individual for assault or battery under a personal injury claim.
Negligence
If you can prove that your injuries were a result of someone else’s negligence (perhaps the facility did not give you the proper gear), you may be able to collect compensation or damages for the injuries.
What You Can Expect to See from a Paintball Injury Suit
Compensation received in a personal injury lawsuit is called damages. Damages are given to the person injured to compensate for the losses that were created as a result of their injury.
Damages usually cover medical costs incurred because of the injury as well as any pain and suffering. This will vary depending on the extent of the injury. You may benefit from consulting with a personal injury lawyer Minneapolis, Minnesota residents rely on to see what your legal options are.
Thank you to our friends and contributors at Johnston | Martineau, PLLP for their insight into personal injury cases and paintball injuries.
