Working out at a gym is arguably one of the best ways to spend your spare time. But for any gym accident & injury attorney in Pittsburgh or elsewhere in Pennsylvania, a gym is associated with not only building strength and making yourself fit and healthy, but also the risk of sustaining an injury.
While many of us ignore the risk of getting injured at a gym, there is no denial that gym accidents and injuries do happen. And they happen more often than you think. “But what do lawyers have to do with all this? After all, if I’m injured while exercising at a gym, that’s totally my fault and responsibility,” you may be thinking.
Well, not always. There are situations in which you may be able to sue the owner of the gym where you sustained an injury. Let me guess your response to this: “Yeah right… I signed a waiver of liability when purchasing my membership, so there’s no way I can seek compensation for my gym injury!”
While it’s true that the vast majority of gyms and health clubs all across Pennsylvania require gymgoers to sign waivers when obtaining memberships in an attempt to escape liability in the event of an injury at their facility, in no way does it mean that it is impossible to pursue a personal injury claim against a gym?
It has been proven time and time again in personal injury lawsuits against gyms in Pennsylvania and all across the nation that these waivers may not be as legally binding as you imagine them to be. Fortunately, courts all across the U.S. have dismissed waivers of liability when the injured gymgoers’ lawyers were able to prove that the gym was negligent or failed to provide a safe environment for its members.
CAN YOU CHALLENGE THE VALIDITY OF WAIVERS IN GYM MEMBERSHIP CONTRACTS?
If the owner of the gym or his/her insurance company is trying to use waivers in an effort to dispute or deny your legitimate claim, you will require the legal help of a Pittsburgh gym accident & injury attorney to seek compensation for your gym injury.
Our gym injury lawyers at Shenderovich, Shenderovich & Fishman have helped injured gymgoers challenge the validity of waivers in dozens of gym accident cases. Whether or not you will be able to challenge the validity of waivers in your particular case depends on the language used in the waiver as well as the circumstances surrounding your gym injury.
SITUATIONS IN WHICH YOU CAN SEEK COMPENSATION FOR GYM INJURY
Over the past 10 years, our best gym accident attorneys in Pittsburgh have helped injured individuals successfully recover damages by suing gyms for the following types of negligence:
- Failure to ensure a sanitary environment (failure to keep locker rooms, restrooms, and showers clean and free of any disease, viruses, and infection);
- Failure to warn members of hidden dangers;
- Failure to maintain the premises in a reasonably safe way;
- Failure to warn members of the wet or slippery floor after cleaning;
- Improper inspection and maintenance of the gym to prevent trip and fall accidents (gym staff must warn members to return equipment to the place it was taken from);
- Inadequate or infrequent inspection and maintenance of gym equipment or machines; and
- Keeping machines too close together (a large number of gym machines may seem like a good idea during peak hours, but it can potentially cause injury when two members are using machines simultaneously).
This is just a shortlist of situations in which you may be entitled to sue your gym and seek compensation despite the fact that you signed a waiver of liability when purchasing your membership. Do not let your gym escape liability by denying your perfectly legitimate claim. Contact our Pittsburgh gym accident & injury lawyer at Shenderovich, Shenderovich & Fishman for a free case evaluation. Call our offices at (412) 391-7610 today.
