Pool safety and not getting sued

[neva1]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? CA

My new house has a pool, which was built in 50's or 60's and looks like it has never been upgraded or modernized. The steps out of the pool is on one corner but don't have any holding rails. I asked a couple of pool service companies h]to figure how much it costs me to put one in. The answer is after all is said and done, I am looking down the barrel close to $2K, which I am not able to afford right now. In addition, few places on the edge of the pool has the edging broke and fell off. There are sharp edges and thin iron bars exposed on a couple of short sections of the edge, which will require a god knows how much to fix.

We have guest coming this summer and I am pretty sure, they will want to use the pool. And I don't want to be sued for personal injury. The question I have, can I post those signs that you see in hotel pools, saying "use the pool at your own risk. homeowner doesn't assume any responsibility if you cause harm to yourself in any way shape or form" ? And if I do, would this release me from getting sued. I know people can get sued but all I need to make sure is, not going to my insurance and have them pay these people and cancel my insurance eventually.

 

[quincy]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? CA

My new house has a pool, which was built in 50's or 60's and looks like it has never been upgraded or modernized. The steps out of the pool is on one corner but don't have any holding rails. I asked a couple of pool service companies h]to figure how much it costs me to put one in. The answer is after all is said and done, I am looking down the barrel close to $2K, which I am not able to afford right now. In addition, few places on the edge of the pool has the edging broke and fell off. There are sharp edges and thin iron bars exposed on a couple of short sections of the edge, which will require a god knows how much to fix.

We have guest coming this summer and I am pretty sure, they will want to use the pool. And I don't want to be sued for personal injury. The question I have, can I post those signs that you see in hotel pools, saying "use the pool at your own risk. homeowner doesn't assume any responsibility if you cause harm to yourself in any way shape or form" ? And if I do, would this release me from getting sued. I know people can get sued but all I need to make sure is, not going to my insurance and have them pay these people and cancel my insurance eventually.

Posting signs will not help you escape liability if an invited guest to your property is injured.

Have you thought of draining your pool or adding a pool cover so that no one can use it? That seems to me to be the common sense solution.

 

[FlyingRon]

You can't just disclaim away liability for your own negligence. Operating a pool that you know is not up to code is likely to put you at risk.

 

[STEPHAN]

Are you sure you are not grandfathered in?

If anything is broken, you need to fix it. You can not sign this away.

However, you might cover up the pool.

 

[FlyingRon]

Are you sure you are not grandfathered in?

Grandfathering may get him around the code enforcement requirements, but it won't indemnify him from issues that he was aware of and didn't bother to address. Diving boards used to be legal and common, but anybody with a brain has taken them out of small pools.

 

[STEPHAN]

I was talking about missing holding rails.

 

[FlyingRon]

I was talking about missing holding rails.

And this is what I'm addressing.

 

[quincy]

Here is a link to California's Pool Safety Act:

http://www.cdph.ca.gov/HealthInfo/environhealth/water/Documents/RecHealth/SwimmingPoolSafetyAct.pdf

 

[xylene]

2k for hand rail? That's insane. A bsaic rail is $150-200. Even if they need 10 hours labor. (which they don't)

 

[quincy]

2k for hand rail? That's insane. A bsaic rail is $150-200. Even if they need 10 hours labor. (which they don't)

Perhaps the $2000 covers the safety feature(s) that must be installed whenever a permit is issued for construction or remodeling of a pool?

The cheapest thing for neva1 to do is cover the pool and advise his/her guest that there is no swimming. That should prevent a pool injury (unless the visitor is a youngster or the adult is a moron).

 

[neva1]

okay, looks like getting out of being sued by means of posting signs is out of question. I got that.

Let's assume I hit the jackpot from the lottery and fixed all of these dangers. Again let's assume one of our guests, preteen kids were doing horseplay and one of them fell and hit the head to the edge of a flowerbed, which is a permanent fixture around the pool (two of them actually) In the same train of thought, I can be sued for this as well. Right ? Or god forbid, someone walking in the back yard got entangled with a bush overgrowth and got hurt. This person (not necessarily a child) can sue me for negligence ? Where does this stupidity stop ? Is there a way to tell the visitors that if you get hurt on this property, we don't accept any responsibility ? I mean in a legal way ? When I will have guests, they will come out of town to do sight seeing as well as seeing us. Meanwhile we both will go to work and carry on our daily lives. If something happens while I am out of the house, what is going to happen ? I really do not want to declare my property no entry zone, anything short of doing this will not give me a peace of mind.

 

[quincy]

okay, looks like getting out of being sued by means of posting signs is out of question. I got that.

Let's assume I hit the jackpot from the lottery and fixed all of these dangers. Again let's assume one of our guests, preteen kids were doing horseplay and one of them fell and hit the head to the edge of a flowerbed, which is a permanent fixture around the pool (two of them actually) In the same train of thought, I can be sued for this as well. Right ? Or god forbid, someone walking in the back yard got entangled with a bush overgrowth and got hurt. This person (not necessarily a child) can sue me for negligence ? Where does this stupidity stop ? Is there a way to tell the visitors that if you get hurt on this property, we don't accept any responsibility ? I mean in a legal way ? When I will have guests, they will come out of town to do sight seeing as well as seeing us. Meanwhile we both will go to work and carry on our daily lives. If something happens while I am out of the house, what is going to happen ? I really do not want to declare my property no entry zone, anything short of doing this will not give me a peace of mind.

Yes, you can be sued for any accident that occurs on your property to both invited guests and uninvited guests. There is no way to prevent a lawsuit but you can try to ensure as best as possible that your property does not have any hazardous conditions that are likely to cause an accident for which you can be held liable.

Just because you and every other property owner can be sued does not mean a suit will be successful. Facts will always matter.

That said, you should have sufficient homeowner's insurance and, with a pool, you should take extra precautions.