Sports and Recreational Injuries

Professional athletes, youth and student players, and weekend warriors should not suffer serious injuries because of poorly designed or manufactured equipment, playing surfaces, or pools. Likewise, spectators and tourists have every right to expect that the facilities they enter to watch a sporting event or sightsee are safe.

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SMB has extensive experience representing the victims of sports and recreational accidents. The sheer number of sports and recreation-related injuries, particularly among children, are shocking. According to the American Association of Pediatrics:

  • According to the American Association of Pediatrics:
    • More than 3.5 million children age 14 and younger get hurt each year playing sports or participating in recreational activities.
    • The leading cause of death from a sports-related injury among children is a brain injury and they account for over 20% of all pediatric traumatic brain injuries.
    • Each year nearly 800,000 children age 14 and younger are treated in hospital emergency rooms for sports-related injuries.

The U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission’s studies show that although team sports like football, baseball, softball, and basketball account for the majority of sports injuries involving kids, individual recreational activities that include bikes, sleds, skis, snowboards, skateboards, and trampolines are more likely to cause the most serious injuries.

The injury statistics compiled by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services are just as alarming:

  • 8.6 million sports and recreation-related injuries per year
  • 65% of the injuries involve individuals ages 5-24.
  • Only about a third of the injuries occur at sports facilities, athletic fields, or playgrounds—meaning that most injuries occur in individual activities.

Unmatched Experience

SMB has successfully handled or acted as experts in dozens of sports and recreation accident cases for our clients, including those involving:

  • Lacrosse, baseball, and equestrian helmet designs
  • Football injuries and concussions
  • Cardiac arrest during athletic competitions
  • Tennis and lacrosse-playing surfaces
  • Swimming pools and water parks
  • Bicycle failures
  • Unsafe sporting facilities

Unmatched Results

SMB has secured numerous multimillion-dollar verdicts and settlements in sports and recreations accident cases, including:

  • $2.,500,000 settlement for a diver who was paralyzed because the bottom of the pool he dove into sloped upward too abruptly
  • $1,000,000 settlement for a West Point cadet who broke his neck when a Veterans Stadium railing collapsed during an Army-Navy football game in Philadelphia
  • $29,500,000 settlement for 46 victims (including three fatalities) of the collapse of Pier 34 tourist attraction in Philadelphia
  • $17,000,000 settlement for 20 tourist and sightseer victims (including two fatalities) of the duck boat accident in the Delaware River between Philadelphia and Camden, NJ
  • $3,000,000 verdict for policewoman disabled in cycling accident on poorly constructed bike path
  • $2,350,000 settlement for parents of two sons who fell into defectively designed swimming pool and fencing (one son died; other permanently disabled)
  • $2,050,000 settlement for police officer who suffered multiple spinal injuries when he dove into a defectively designed diving pool
  • $1,400,000 settlement for high school baseball player who suffered brain injuries when he was struck by a pitch while wearing a defective batting helmet

Unmatched Commitment

SMB is also is committed to making sports safer. As an example, we successfully secured a $1.4 million settlement for a high school baseball player who suffered a brain injury because his batting helmet was shown to be ineffective for pitches exceeding 60 mph. As a result of our lawsuit, the manufacturer strengthened its helmets to provide greater safety to youth baseball players nationwide.

Unmatched Experience

SMB’s sports accident lawyers are athletes themselves. Partner Robert Mongeluzzi played football and lacrosse for the University of Pennsylvania and has played and coached lacrosse for more than 40 years. He is also an expert skier, mountain biker, and wave runner. Partner Larry Bendesky is a renowned youth baseball coach and the former president of the Lower Merion Township (Pennsylvania) Little League.

Unmatched Compensation

Equipment manufacturers, property and facility owners, managers, and maintenance contractors may all be liable for a sports or recreation-related injury. SMB works tenaciously to help you get all the compensation to which you may be entitled – including payments for pain and suffering, emotional trauma, past and future medical and rehab expenses, lost income, and future earnings.

If you have been injured, or a family member has been injured or killed, as a result of a serious sports or recreational accident, SMB is committed to obtaining all the results you need and deserve.

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