Riverside’s Festival of Lights Opens on Thanksgiving: How to Ensure Your Safety (And Sue Those Who Cause Injuries)

Riverside announced the opening of the Festival of Lights on Friday, November 24, for the Thanksgiving holiday weekend celebrations. The festival will kick off after the ceremonial switching on of 5 million lights.

Huge crowds, thousands of drunk, turkey-digesting people, lots of glass bottles around, and 5 million lights… What could possibly go wrong, right?

“A lot of things could go wrong in that scenario,” our Riverside personal injury and premises liability attorneys at JML Law warn. If you’re planning to attend the festival this coming Friday, make sure you stay safe and, preferably, have our attorney’s phone number in your smartphone’s ‘Contacts’ in case you get injured.

Write down JML Law’s number – 818-835-5735 – before heading to the Festival of Lights that is full of potential hazards that could cause injury to you or your loved ones (remember: we offer a free initial consultation).

Injuries that could occur during Riverside’s Festival of Lights:

• Human stampedes and crowd crushes (it’s fair to predict that a festival of that scope could have a density of four people per square meter, which is especially dangerous when crowds are large).
  Fact: over 100 people have been killed in human stampedes worldwide this year alone, while festivals are among the deadliest venues where dozens or hundreds of people may get injured.
• Equipment falling on people.
• Colliding with other festival-goers, especially those with jerky moves (think: dancers and drunk people).
• Being hit by glass bottles thrown by others in the crowd.
• Getting into a fight with violent, drunk or drug-impaired festival-goers (the festival organizer may be sued for premises liability for serving alcohol to overly intoxicated people, or for failing to prevent drugs sale at the venue).
• Trips, slips and falls that occur on walkways or in public restrooms that have wet floors (also, beware of objects on the ground, as you may trip over them).
• Dog bites (some festival-goers choose to come to festivals with their pets).
• Stepping on broken glass (festivals are full of broken glass on the ground, it’s a fact).
• One of the 5 million lights catching fire.
  Fact: Fires cause over 15,000 injuries and more than 3,000 deaths every year in the U.S. alone.
• Deafness and other hearing problems due to the extremely loud music.

How to file a personal injury or premises liability claim at the festival?

As seen from the non-exhaustive list above, there are quite a few scenarios that may cause personal injury at festivals and concerts

Premises liability and personal injury claims stemming from festivals may be difficult to litigate, as determining liability at festivals require professional legal representation from a personal injury or premises liability attorney in Riverside.

Here at JML Law, our Riverside attorneys have helped clients collect relevant evidence of premises liability and personal injury in order to make a claim for compensation.

Don’t let the festival’s organizers ruin your Thanksgiving holiday just because they were negligent to ensure everyone’s safety at the Festival of Lights. And don’t let other festival-goers get away with causing you injuries.

Consult our premises liability attorney here at JML Law by calling our Riverside offices at 816-610-8800 today or send an email to schedule a free initial consultation.