I was invited to play paint ball at a friends house which resulted in an accident

  • Thread starter Thread starter mdsrgnrs
  • Start date Start date
M

mdsrgnrs

Guest
and the loss of my eye.? Although I do not want to do this, is it possible that I can sue this person (homeowners) for help with ongoing medical expenses?
 
First of all, be sure that the statute of limitation has not run for personal injury, which in most states is one year. Next, be aware that any attempt to sue the owner of the house will probably be met with a claim of assumption of the risk. This will turn on a couple of points, first did you have proper safety equipment? Second, what was the experience level of the other players? Third, were any sort of rules enforced to ensure safety to the extent possible? It might be a different situation of these were all people known to each other who played all the time and thus would probably present less of a risk of injury, but you don't specify in your question, so its an unknown.
Finally, what is your own experience level? All of these will figure into determining if assumption of the risk does or should apply.
You were a licensee in the meaning of Rowland, which means you were on the property with the owners permission. While that does mean the owner owes you a certain duty of care to prevent foreseeable injuries to his guests and business invitees, this will lose to assumption of the risk.
Paintball is probably not seen as an inherently dangerous activity, so strict liability probably wont apply.
The only theory that might work is if the person who caused your injury either acted with intent, or with a level of negligence so high that it could be legally seen as intentional. This is what the law calls reckless endangerment.
Otherwise, your only other option is probably going to be ask the homeowner to make a claim against his homeowner policy and hope that paintball injuries are covered.
 
Back
Top