Maison Law represents the victims of accidents that occur while attending California state and county fairs, including the Kern County Fair in Bakersfield. Our personal injury lawyers demand compensation for injured victims when fairground owners and operators, and government agencies allow guests to get hurt. Contact us to schedule a free, no-obligation consultation for all victims and their families.
Do I Need a Lawyer After Suffering an Injury at The Kern County Fair?
If you suffer a serious injury at the state fair you should speak to a Kern County Fair Injury Lawyer. Anything beyond a few minor scrapes or soreness could result in the need for expensive medical care. As hospital bills rise, owners and operators of the fair, and the State of California will be fighting even harder to avoid accepting blame for what happened to you.
Just trying to get your emergency room bills paid can put you up against unhelpful insurance adjusters and lawyers all assigned to try to limit the support you receive. They will try to blame you for what happened and downplay your injury. Your Maison Law attorney is your safeguard against this type of treatment. We fully investigate what happened and present strong evidence to force Fair organizers to provide the maximum in benefits available.
What Kinds of Dangers Could My Family Face at The Kern County Fair?
The Kern County Fair kicks off in Bakersfield every year in September, thrilling around 350,000 visitors. They’ll ride the Ferris Wheel, tour the exhibits, and pet the animals. Ticketholders might grab some fried food and enjoy a concert.
Unfortunately, safety must be a major concern when you and your family walk through the fairgrounds. There are so many powerful machines, crammed booths, and crowds around that accidents are bound to happen.
Fair attendees can be placed in harm’s way by a roller coaster that hasn’t been inspected properly or a fair employee’s careless mistake. Fairgoers could take a tumble off a raised platform when a loose handrail gives way.
These are just a few of the dangerous accidents that might leave fairgoers seeking injury support:
- Ride malfunction, manufacturing defect
- Ride operator error
- Electrical hazards on rides and from cords
- Burn injuries from the metal on rides and fire hazards
- Slip-and-fall hazards from food and drink spills
- Stairway, ramp, boardwalk, and sidewalk trip-and-fall obstacles
- Food poisoning
- Parking Lot hazards
- Overcrowding
- Exposure to chemicals and other harmful substances
- Exposure to illnesses like Legionnaires’ disease, E.coli, Salmonella, and cryptosporidiosis from expo displays and contact with animals
- Injury at a concert
- Negligent Security and crime risk
The Bakersfield Police Department handles security for the fair. They work hard to keep everyone safe, but fairgoers and ride operators can act carelessly and recklessly.
To encourage a safe environment, fair organizers have a list of what visitors aren’t allowed to bring to the fair. You can find that list on the Kern County Fair website. Of course, security mandates and a police presence cannot prevent all careless accidents and criminal attacks at the fair. People can get hurt and be in desperate need of financial support as they heal.
At Maison Law, we safeguard the victims of personal injury accidents and hold those responsible fully liable for the damages they’ve caused.
Who Is Responsible If I’m Hurt at The Kern County Fair?
Fair organizers and those who sell at booths, assemble and operate rides, and inspect them can all be found liable for injuries to you or a family member at a fair. An injury claim may ultimately have to be directed at the State of California.
Under California’s premises liability laws, amusement parks and fair operators must show their ticketholders a legal “duty of care.” It means owners and operators must do everything possible to monitor for potential dangers and to remove them in a reasonable amount of time.
The state, through the Department of Food and Agriculture, must accept accountability for hiring safe employees, fixing hazards as soon as they are discovered, and shutting down unsafe rides and attractions. Event organizers must also monitor for the obstacles other fairgoers leave behind. Dropped food left on a stair step or a spilled soft drink must be cleaned up before someone has the chance to slip and fall and suffer a hard impact.
When someone gets hurt due to the negligence of this duty of care, victims are empowered to seek financial support to pay their hospital bills and support their families while they can’t work.
These are just a few of the owners, operators, and companies that might be forced to provide victims with a settlement check:
- Officials with the 15th District Agricultural Association a part of the California Department of Food and Agriculture Division of Fairs & Expositions.
- Fairgrounds owners and operators.
- Ride Manufacturers.
- Ride Inspectors for The Division of Occupational Safety and Health also known as Cal/OSHA.
- Food vendors
- Retail vendors
In some cases, there may be multiple parties that contribute to an accident that causes you or your child to suffer an injury. A skilled California State Fair Accident Lawyer would identify every party that should contribute to your recovery. It’s an important task for victims, because the more insurance companies that may be drawn from, the better chance that victims in need get 100% of their damages covered.
What If I Signed a Waiver of Liability Before Entering the State Fair?
You agree to a waiver of liability when you purchase a ticket to the fair. It’s part of the fine print on the website or at a ticket booth. This waiver protects organizers from getting sued over some normal hazards expected when riding fast-moving rides and being around so many other people.
But a waiver doesn’t protect fair operators from all liability after an accident. Organizers may be protected from responsibility for expected and reasonable risk, but there are many dangers that go beyond what’s to be expected. Fair owners and operators may have failed to ensure that the connections on a tilt-a-whirl were tightened, or ignored building codes. Waivers do not usually protect entities from being sued when their negligence rises above expected risk.
A skilled lawyer can fight to remove these protections that departments under the State of California like to hide behind. Your Maison Law representative would also make sure you didn’t miss important deadlines when filing an injury claim against the state. Cases involving the government can have much shorter deadlines than normal personal injury cases. You may have only months instead of years to file before losing your chance to earn injury support.
What Type of Compensation Can I Expect After an Accident at the Fair?
Accidents at the Kern County Fair may involve high-flying rides, exposure to germs or hazardous chemicals, and falls from great heights. These incidents can leave victims with traumatic injuries like head trauma, broken bones, and neck, back, and spine injuries.
Patients could require months or years of physical therapy and multiple surgeries to return to the lives they used to live. Your lawyer would total all of the damages you have endured so far and estimate the costs of care that may be needed over a lifetime.
This list of hardships would be submitted with an injury claim to the insurance provider for an at-fault party. Then your lawyer would be demanding full compensation on a fair injury settlement check:
- Present and future medical expenses related to your injury
- Physical therapy costs
- Estimated costs for future care in the case of a permanent disability
- Support for physical pain endured
- Support for emotional trauma suffered
- Lost wages and future loss of earning capacity
- Wrongful death damages for families if a loved one’s life has been taken
Contact a Kern County Fair Injury Attorney
After a slip-and-fall accident or any injury at a California fair, be sure to discuss your case with an experienced Bakersfield personal injury lawyer. You should be able to focus on your recovery without worrying over the hospital bills piling up and the paychecks you’re missing while out of work.
Allow Maison Law’s Kern County Fair Accident Lawyers to go to work on your case to secure the most compensation possible for your recovery. Contact us today for a free, no-obligation case evaluation to find out how we can assist you. Your case review is completely confidential.
If you feel Maison Law can secure more in compensation for you, you won’t need any upfront money to hire us. We don’t get paid unless we win your case for you. Then our fee comes out of the money insurers are forced to provide.
