Rhode Island Drowning Accident Lawyer

Rhode Island Law and How It Applies to Drowning and Near-Drowning Claims

Rhode Island state law governs most drowning claims that arise in Rhode Island. Other states set different deadlines and fault rules, which is why the site's page on Massachusetts drowning law reads differently from this one.

Most of these claims rest on negligence, meaning a failure to use reasonable care. A claim of this kind asks four things: whether a person or business owed the injured person a duty of care, whether that duty was breached, whether the breach caused the drowning or injury, and what harm followed. A drowning, however heartbreaking, does not by itself prove that an owner, an operator, a lifeguard or a parent did anything wrong. For a family, this means the question is not only what happened, but whether someone's lack of care contributed to it.

These questions tend to arise in three settings: pools at hotels, resorts, apartment complexes and private homes; open water such as beaches and lakes; and boating accidents. The setting can change who had a duty and which rules apply, including the recreational-use rule described below.

It also helps to separate three situations. A drowning death leads to a wrongful-death question. A nonfatal drowning leads to an injury claim brought by the survivor or, for a child, on the child's behalf. A hypoxic or anoxic brain injury, harm to the brain from too little or no oxygen, can follow a nonfatal drowning and often shapes what the injury claim involves over a lifetime. Knowing which of these situations applies, and where the drowning happened, is often the first thing a family weighs, and the starting point for a conversation with an attorney.

Filing Deadlines Under Rhode Island Law

A statute of limitations is the law's time limit for starting a lawsuit. For injuries, section 9-1-14 of the Rhode Island General Laws provides that "Actions for injuries to the person shall be commenced and sued within three (3) years next after the cause of action shall accrue, and not after," except as subsection (c) of that section provides for certain direct actions against an insurer, where the period for that direct action is extended by 120 days when the conditions in that subsection are met. "Accrue" refers to when the claim arises. Once the period runs, the statute bars the action, and the deadline does not pause for grief.

A child's claim works differently. Under section 9-1-19 of the Rhode Island General Laws, if a person is under eighteen when the claim accrues, "the person may bring the cause of action, within the time limited under this chapter, after the impediment is removed." Being under eighteen is treated as an impediment, and the time limit applies after it is removed. This postponement is often called tolling. The same section applies to a person "of unsound mind" or "beyond the limits of the United States."

A wrongful-death action has its own period. Under section 10-7-2 of the Rhode Island General Laws, the action generally "shall be commenced within three (3) years after the death," and, for a death caused by a wrongful act, neglect or default "not known at the time of death," within three years of when it "is discovered or, in the exercise of reasonable diligence, should have been discovered."

Where a city or town may be involved, section 45-15-5 of the Rhode Island General Laws adds a step before suit, described in the next section. Families often note the date of the drowning, the date of any death and the age of anyone injured, since those dates drive which period applies; an attorney can help sort out how they fit together.

Who May Be Responsible After a Drowning in Rhode Island

Responsibility turns on who had a duty and what that duty asked of them. For a family, naming the right party matters, because a claim against the wrong one cannot answer the question they are really asking.

If the drowning happened at a hotel, resort or apartment pool, the property owner or operator may have had a duty to keep the pool reasonably safe for people lawfully there; this is called premises liability. The question is generally whether the conditions and safeguards were reasonable for that setting, which depends on the facts.

If no one was watching closely enough, the question may be negligent supervision: whether the person responsible watched with the care the situation called for. Where a facility provided lifeguards, the question is whether the supervision met the care the law requires; for a home pool, it can involve the host or the property owner.

If a public beach, pool or waterway is involved, a municipality may be a party. Section 45-15-5 provides that a person with a claim or demand against a town or city "for any matter, cause, or thing whatsoever" presents "a particular account" of the claim, "and how incurred or contracted," to the town or city council. If "just and due satisfaction" is not made by the treasurer "within forty (40) days after the presentment," the person "may commence his or her action against the treasurer." For a family, this means a claim against a city or town starts with that step.

In a boating drowning, boat operators and owners can be involved, and these cases can raise rules beyond the Rhode Island statutes on this page.

If a drain cover, a pool barrier or a flotation device is at issue, product manufacturers and sellers can be involved, depending on whether a product was defective and caused harm. Section 9-1-13 of the Rhode Island General Laws states in subsection (a) that, "Except as otherwise specially provided, all civil actions shall be commenced within ten (10) years next after the cause of action shall accrue." The official page marks subsection (b), a product-specific period, as "[Ruled unconstitutional, see case notes]." How these periods interact with the three-year injury period in section 9-1-14 depends on the claim and Rhode Island's current law.

A family weighing these possibilities may think about who owned or ran the place, who was supervising, and what equipment was involved; an attorney can help identify which parties fit the facts.

Rhode Island's Comparative-Negligence Rule and What It Means for Your Claim

Many families carry a painful question: was it partly our fault? A parent looked away for a moment; a swimmer went past a rope line. Rhode Island's statute speaks to that directly.

Comparative negligence is the rule that weighs the injured person's own share of fault rather than letting it end the case. Under section 9-20-4 of the Rhode Island General Laws, in actions for personal injuries or where personal injuries have resulted in death:

"the fact that the person injured, or the owner of the property or person having control over the property, may not have been in the exercise of due care or the fact that the danger or defect was open and obvious shall not bar a recovery, but damages shall be diminished by the finder of fact in proportion to the amount of negligence attributable to the person injured..."

In plain words, a lack of care by the injured person reduces the damages in proportion to their share of the negligence; it does not, on that ground alone, end the claim. The "finder of fact" is the jury, or the judge where there is no jury. A defense that a pool's depth or a beach's current was "open and obvious" also does not, under this section, automatically end a claim.

If you are hesitating because of a sense of partial blame, that worry alone does not decide the matter. How fault would be divided depends on the facts, and it is a question an attorney can help weigh. The site's page on Delaware drowning law shows how differently another state frames shared fault.

The Recreational-Use Rule and When It Limits a Landowner's Liability

If the drowning happened at a pond, a shoreline or open land that someone let the public use for free, a separate rule may matter, and it can turn on details such as whether anyone paid to be there.

Under section 32-6-3 of the Rhode Island General Laws, except as section 32-6-5 provides, an owner who "invites or permits without charge any person to use that property for recreational purposes" does not thereby extend "any assurance that the premises are safe for any purpose," does not confer "the legal status of an invitee or licensee to whom a duty of care is owed," and does not assume responsibility or "incur liability for any injury to any person or property caused by an act of omission of that person."

Section 32-6-5 of the Rhode Island General Laws states two exceptions where liability that would otherwise exist is not limited: "the willful or malicious failure to guard or warn against a dangerous condition, use, structure, or activity after discovering the user's peril," and any injury "where the owner of land charges the person or persons who enter or go on the land for the recreational use thereof." Consideration an owner receives for land leased to the state or a subdivision is not a "charge" under that section. The section also gives "limited liability" to a landowner when the coastal resources management council designates a right-of-way or requires public access as a permit condition, except as the section provides.

In plain words, if an owner charged for access, or discovered a person's peril and willfully or maliciously failed to guard or warn, the immunity may not apply. The rule is most relevant to beaches, lakes and open land, not necessarily to a resort or hotel pool. Families in this situation may consider whether any fee, ticket or lease was involved and whether anyone knew of the danger, questions an attorney can help sort out.

Wrongful Death in Rhode Island: What the Law Allows and Who Can Bring a Claim

When a drowning ends a life because of someone else's wrongful act, neglect or default, Rhode Island allows a wrongful-death claim. Some families find it steadying to know that the process exists; others find it hard to read about. Both reactions are understandable.

Under section 10-7-2 of the Rhode Island General Laws, every action under the wrongful-death chapter, other than one under section 10-7-1.2, "shall be brought by and in the name of the executor or administrator of the deceased person, whether appointed or qualified within or without the state." The executor is named in a will; an administrator is appointed when there is none. The claim does not belong automatically to each grieving relative; it is brought in the name of the person handling the estate.

Section 10-7-2 also says where the recovery goes: "one-half (½) shall go to the husband or widow, and one-half (½) shall go to the children of the deceased"; if there are no children, the whole goes to the husband or widow; and if neither, "to the next of kin" as provided by law for intestate personal property. In practice, a surviving spouse and the children share the recovery equally, and a surviving family member's share depends on who else survived. A person adjudged in willful contempt of being more than six months behind on child support for the deceased is not allowed recovery under the chapter.

A separate action under section 10-7-1.2, for loss of "society, companionship and/or consortium," is brought "by and in the name of the person or persons sustaining the loss," and the amount recovered goes to them. The three-year periods described earlier, measured from the death or from discovery, apply to these actions "except as otherwise provided."

Questions about who should act for the estate and how these two kinds of action relate can be the subject of a conversation with our attorney.

Records and Information That Often Matter in Rhode Island Drowning Cases

No family is expected to think like an investigator. Still, the questions of duty, fault and cause above are answered with records, and what is kept now can shape what can be shown later.

Medical records, from emergency care through any treatment for a brain injury after a nonfatal drowning, document the harm. Incident reports made by a hotel, resort, apartment complex or facility, and police or other official reports, often hold the first account of what happened.

Photos and video of the pool, beach, lake or boat, the water conditions, signs, gates, barriers and equipment can show conditions as they were. The names of witnesses and of lifeguards or staff on duty often matter.

Where a pool is involved, inspection records, maintenance logs and lifeguard certifications can bear on what the owner or operator did to keep it reasonably safe. Where a product or boat is at issue, the drain cover, barrier, flotation device or vessel itself, with any purchase record, can matter. Families sometimes start by noting which of these they already have and which may be held by others, a list that can make a later conversation with an attorney less overwhelming.