Lifeguard Negligence in Nevada – What you need to know

When lifeguard negligence contributes to an accident in Nevada, the victim’s family can sue the water park or hotel/casino where it occurred because pool owners are “vicariously liable” for its negligent lifeguards.

In a recent case, Henderson’s Cowabunga Bay water park paid a $49 million settlement to the family of a boy who sustained catastrophic brain damage after nearly drowning due to insufficient lifeguards on duty.¹

Required training

In Nevada, lifeguards must have

“satisfactorily completed a Red Cross Advanced Lifesaving Course or the equivalent.”²

These courses require several hours of training and coursework including water rescue, first aid, CPR, and AED.

Certification is valid for two years. To avoid a lapse in lapse in certification, lifeguards should apply for recertification 30 days before their certification’s expiration date.³

Enough lifeguards

Nevada law requires enough lifeguards at public pools to be

“adequate to maintain continuous surveillance over the bathers.” ⁴

At the Cowabunga Bay water park in Henderson, only three lifeguards were on duty when the near-drowning victim sustained brain injuries. The Southern Nevada Health District said there needed to be 17.

Homeowners and tenants who have private pool parties are encouraged to hire at least one lifeguard for every 15 guests. If you are going boating, everyone should wear a life jacket.

Proving negligence

To prove a lifeguard (the “defendant”) was negligent in Nevada, you (the “plaintiff”) need to show:

1. The lifeguard owed a duty of care to you;
2. The lifeguard breached this standard of care;
3. This breach caused your injuries; and
4. The injuries resulted in damages.⁵

The most common causes of lifeguard negligence that my team of personal injury lawyers see are:

• being distracted and not paying attention to the swimming pool, such as by looking at their phone or listening to music
• acting carelessly during a rescue or not applying proper rescue techniques or equipment
• not maintaining a proper sight line to see all areas of the swimming zone
• not notifying the property owner of dangerous conditions, such as a broken diving board or missing drain cover
• delaying in responding to a person in distress
• failing to notice a struggling swimmer
• not being in the proper guard station or position

Whom you can sue

You can bring a legal action against the individual lifeguards if their negligence caused your swimming pool injury or drowning accident. Though chances are they have little money and are therefore judgment-proof.

It is much more common to bring a personal injury claim against the companies that owned, managed, and/or maintained the swimming pool or water park where your injury took place.⁶ These companies are liable for their negligent lifeguards under the legal doctrines of:

• premises liability, because the accident occurred on their property; and/or
• respondeat superior, because the lifeguard was their employee acting within the ordinary scope of their employment.

If the lifeguard was uncertified or otherwise unsuitable for the job, you can also sue the companies on the basis of negligent hiring, supervision, or retention.

You may also have grounds to sue the companies that manufactured the swimming pool itself or any swimming equipment that may have malfunctioned and contributed to the injuries. In these cases, you would sue on a products liability basis rather than for negligence.

Money damages

In lifeguard negligence cases, my team of accident attorneys fight for all the standard compensatory damages:

• medical bills (past, present, and future);
• lost wages and loss of future wages (from being too ill to work);
• pain and suffering (often the biggest expense); and/or
• funeral/burial expenses and loss of support (in wrongful death cases).

Many of the cases I see involve victims who sustained such catastrophic injuries that they need 24/7 care, so I pursue settlements that will cover all future medical bills for the life of the victim. In my experience, the defendants’ insurance companies are willing to settle without a trial in order to avoid bad publicity.

If you were partly to blame

If you were partly at fault for your accident – such as by trying a dangerous stunt on a water slide – you can still recover damages as long as you were no more than 50% at fault. Your final monetary reward would just be reduced by your degree of fault.⁷

Example: Max is at a water park when he nearly drowns, sustaining $100,000 in medical bills. He sues the water park because the lifeguard was slow to rescue him. The court finds Max 50% at fault for being intoxicated. Therefore, Max could recover $50,000 (half of $100,000).

In the lifeguard negligence cases I see that involve child victims, the defendant tries to avoid responsibility by blaming lack of supervision by the parents. So my team of personal injury attorneys rely on such evidence as surveillance video and eyewitness accounts to show that the parents did nothing wrong, and that all fault lies with the venue.

Learn more about Nevada’s comparative negligence law.

How long you have to sue

The statute of limitations in Nevada personal injury cases is typically two years after the accident. Though if the victim was a minor, the statute of limitations does not start running until they turn 18 years old – which means they would have until their 20th birthday to sue (18 plus 2).⁸

Additional resources

• American Red Cross Lifeguard Manual – All the information lifeguards need to know.
• How to Become a Lifeguard – Video by the American AED CPR Association (AEDCPR).
• Lifeguard Effectiveness: A Report of the Working Group – Case studies and analysis by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
• Drowning Treatment: First Aid and Emergencies – Guide by WebMD.
• United States Lifesaving Association – Non-profit association of beach lifeguards and open water rescuers.

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