What Is Assumption of Risk and How Can It Impact Your Injury Claim?

If you’ve been injured and are considering filing a personal injury claim in Illinois, there are many legal issues that you should consider. One of them is known as an assumption of risk.

What is assumption of risk, and how can it impact your injury claim?

While it might sound like a technical concept, it can have a very real impact on your ability to recover compensation for your injuries. In some instances, it could even prevent you from recovering anything.

What Is Assumption of Risk?

In many personal injury cases, the defense might try to shift blame onto you. One way that they do that is with an assumption of risk. With that, they might argue that you knew about the danger involved in a certain activity and chose to go ahead anyway.

As a result, you accepted the possibility of getting hurt. For that reason, they should not be held responsible for your injuries. Often, this can happen in cases involving sports injuries, recreational activities, and slips and falls on private property.

There are two types of assumption of risk under Illinois law:

Express Assumption of Risk

In this scenario, you assume risk when you sign a waiver or release form before participating in an activity. For example, if you go rock climbing and sign a waiver that says you understand the risks, you will not hold the facility liable.

Implied Assumption of Risk

This can apply when your actions show that you knew there was a risk and voluntarily accepted it, even if you did not sign the paperwork. For example, if you knowingly walk across an icy parking lot to enter a store, the property owner might claim you accepted the risk of slipping.

How Illinois Law Handles This Issue

Illinois follows a modified comparative negligence rule. That means the fault of both parties is examined, and a percentage of blame is assigned. You cannot recover any damages if you are more than 50% at fault for your injuries. However, you can still recover if you are 50% or less at fault. Remember that compensation will be reduced based on your share of the blame.

Now, here’s where assumption of risk can affect that…

If the other side can prove that you assumed the risk, they may argue that you were mostly or entirely responsible for what happened. This can reduce or eliminate the compensation you receive.

However, Illinois courts take a close look at these assumptions of risk defenses. Just because you signed a waiver does not mean you’ve completely waived your right to sue. For example, a waiver will not protect someone from liability if their conduct was willful and wanton, or, in other words, recklessly indifferent to the safety of others.

For example, if you went to a trampoline park in the Chicago suburbs and signed a waiver before entering, you understand there were risks. But you may not know that the staff have failed to maintain the equipment properly. As you jumped, the springs snapped, and you suffered a serious injury.

While the facility might try to argue that you assumed the risk, that argument might not hold up if the injury was caused by poor maintenance or staff negligence.

Another example centers around recreational sports. If you were injured while playing in an amateur sports league, the league might claim you knew you could get hurt. But if your injury happened because of unsafe field conditions that were not disclosed or addressed, you may still have a viable case.

Never Let Assumption of Risk Intimidate You

When the defense tries to use an assumption of risk to counter your claim, you still have options.

In Illinois, courts will not want to automatically dismiss a claim because a waiver was signed or a plaintiff engaged in a risky activity.

Every case depends on what you knew, the apparent risks, and whether the defendant did anything negligent beyond those risks.

Therefore, you will want to talk to an experienced personal injury attorney if you’ve been hurt.

They can take time to evaluate the details of your situation and determine whether the assumption of risk defense might apply. And if it doesn’t, you have a legal advocate to push back against any attempt to unfairly minimize your claim.

If you’ve been injured and are worried that assumption of risk might affect your ability to recover compensation, reach out to Thomas Law Offices. We can help you determine your case’s best course of action, including challenging these assumptions.