Lawsuits for Water Park & Water Slide Injuries in Nevada

If you are injured at a water park in Nevada, you can sue the owners and operators for money damages such as medical bills, lost wages, and pain and suffering.

Common accidents at Las Vegas water parks include slip-and-falls, drowning, infections from contaminated water, and food poisoning. Children, in particular, are prone to serious injuries or wrongful death from water slides.

To help you better understand lawsuits for water park injuries in Nevada, our Las Vegas personal injury lawyers will address:

• 1. Proving Negligence
• 2. Premises Liability
• 3. Water Slide Injuries
• 4. Who can I sue?
• 5. What damages can I get?
• 6. Settling on Behalf of Child Victims
• 7. What if I signed a waiver?
• 8. What if I was partially at fault?
• 9. Notable Cases
• Additional Resources

1. Proving Negligence

You need to prove four “elements” at trial to win a negligence claim against a Nevada water park:

1. The water park owed you a duty of care;
2. The water park breached that duty;
3. The breach was the legal cause of your injuries; and.
4. As a result of the breach, you suffered damages.¹

Typical evidence in these cases include:

• video surveillance footage,
• eyewitness accounts,
• maintenance records, and
• medical records.

In reality, the majority of these personal injury cases settle without a trial.

2. Premises Liability

Nevada premises liability laws require water park operators to maintain their parks in a reasonably safe condition. This duty extends to all areas of the park, including rides, concession stands, parking areas, bathrooms and walkways. For example, operators must:

• comply with food preparation safety standards,
• clean up spills promptly,
• maintain adequate security,
• provide adequate lighting throughout the park,
• provide reasonable aid in an emergency, and
• comply with state and federal anti-discrimination laws.

With regard to rides and water slides in particular, park operators have a duty to:

• regularly inspect the rides and catch pools for metal fatigue, friction points, and other safety hazards,
• repair hazards right away or else cordon them off,
• ensure that water is adequately chlorinated,
• provide enough lifeguards,
• warn riders of rules and possible hazards,
• make sure riders do not “double tube” or exceed posted weight limits, and
• have emergency procedures in place in case of accidents.

3. Water Slide Injuries

Water parks carry a unique set of risks, especially on water slides. Common causes of injuries include:

• the raft picking up too much or too little speed due to a patron who exceeds the weight limits;
• slip-and-fall accidents on wet surfaces;
• rafts and other objects that get stuck in the tubes and later come loose and hit riders;
• drowning and near-drowning accidents; and
• small children slipping out from broken restraints or restraints designed for larger patrons.

Small children cannot be expected to take reasonable caution, which is why having adequate lifeguards on staff is necessary.

4. Who can I sue?

If you are injured at a water park in Nevada, you may be able to sue:

• the water park’s owner, operator, and managers,
• the hotel in which a water park is located,
• the parent company of the hotel or water park,
• the park’s liability insurer, or
• a third-party company providing food or security for the water park.

If a park employee’s negligence caused your injury, you would still sue the park’s owners since they are vicariously liable for their employees. The park is also liable if they hired unqualified staff and failed to train or supervise them.

Additionally, if your injury was caused by defective park equipment, you may have grounds to bring a strict liability lawsuit against the designer or manufacturer.

5. What damages can I get?

If you are injured at a Las Vegas water park, you may be able to recover compensatory damages for:

• medical bills,
• long- or short-term care,
• physical or occupational rehabilitation,
• lost wages,
• lost earning capacity,
• pain and suffering, or
• wrongful death.

In extreme cases, you may be able to recover punitive damages as well.

The statute of limitations in Nevada personal injury cases can be as short as two years after the accident, so do not wait to seek legal help.

6. Settling on Behalf of Child Victims

In Nevada, parents and legal guardians have the right to enter into out-of-court settlements on behalf of their minor children. This is known as the compromise of a minor’s claim.

A compromise of a minor’s claims is not legally binding, however, unless and until it has been approved by the district court in:

• the county in which the minor resides, or
• if the minor is not a Nevada resident, in the county where the claim occurred.

7. What if I signed a waiver?

Water park owners often try to avoid liability by making you sign a waiver where you assume the risk. This means you:

1. have actual knowledge of the reasonably foreseeable risk involved in a conduct or activity,
2. fully appreciate the danger resulting from the risk, and
3. voluntarily accept that risk.²

These liability waivers are enforceable if:

• it can be easily understood by the average person;
• its terms are not hidden in the fine print, and important provisions are not buried; and
• the waiver does not excuse more than ordinary negligence.

Therefore, even though waivers stop you from suing for ordinary negligence, you can always sue the water park for:

• gross negligence, which is extreme carelessness, or
• recklessness, which is a conscious disregard of others’ safety.

Examples of gross negligence or recklessness may be forgetting to conduct safety checks, overcrowding rides, or having too few lifeguards on staff. No waiver cancels out a water park owner’s obligation to make their attractions safe.

Note that any waiver of liability affecting a minor child is unenforceable. Therefore, you cannot sign your child’s rights away, and you can sue on their behalf if they get injured.²

8. What if I was partially at fault?

Under Nevada’s “modified comparative negligence” law, you can get money for your injuries as long as you were no more than 50% responsible. Your damages will simply be reduced by the percentage for which you were at fault.

9. Notable Cases

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission estimates that more than 4,200 people require emergency room treatment every year for injuries suffered on public waterslides. Such injuries include:

• scrapes,
• concussions,
• broken limbs,
• spinal injuries and
• drowning or near-drowning injuries.

Both adults and children are injured in water parks. However, children are more likely to be involved in fatal or near-fatal accidents on water slides.

For instance, in 2015, a 6-year-old boy suffered a catastrophic brain injury after a near-drowning in a wave pool at Cowabunga Bay water park in Henderson. The park was found to be negligent per se for having fewer lifeguards than the law requires. A lawsuit resulted in a $49 million settlement.³

The Wet ‘n’ Wild water park in Las Vegas was sued in 1997 when a 9-year-old girl died a week after being pulled unconscious from the wave pool. The park was eventually cleared or wrongdoing.

Another lawsuit that year accused Wet n’ Wild of causing a child’s broken hip after the child fell while climbing out of the catch pool at the bottom of a water slide. The jury in that case found that the water park was only 20% at fault and therefore did not owe any damages; however, the Nevada Supreme Court reversed the judgment, and the case presumably settled.⁴

Additional Resources

For information and tips about water park safety, refer to the guides provided by the following organizations:

• World Waterpark Association – A trade organization that supports and promotes the water leisure industry.
• KidsHealth – An online resource providing doctor-reviewed health information for parents, children, and teens.
• Safewise – A consumer-focused safety and security research organization that provides product recommendations and safety tips.
• International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions (IAAPA) – A global trade association representing amusement parks, attractions, and the attractions industry.
• American Red Cross  – A humanitarian organization that provides emergency assistance, disaster relief, and disaster preparedness education in the United States.

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