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.

How long will a personal injury claim take?

Being injured can be traumatic and then figuring out what to do next adds more stress to the situation. Personal injury attorney works diligently to settle the case as soon as possible. Some cases can take years especially those where there is the permanent injury. Smaller personal injury claims can be resolved within a few months. JML Law is staffed with experienced Los Angeles personal injury attorney that can look at your accident and determine the best plan of action.

Medical Treatment

Before anything else, seek medical treatment for your injuries. This is crucial to your health and to your case. Insurance adjusters will argue about the seriousness of your injuries if medical attention is not obtained within the allotted time period. If the case were to go to trial, the jury may also find that you could not have been seriously injured if you waited so long to seek help. This will also help the lawyer determine if there is a case.

Discussing the case with a Lawyer

Find a Los Angeles personal injury attorney to discuss the incident. The attorneys at JML Law have years of experience related to personal injury cases and can help you decide the best route to take.during an initial consultation, the attorney will interview you about the accident, medical treatment sought and will need a  little background about yourself. It is important to be forthcoming with all information because the lawyer does have your best interests in mind and is seeking all this information to win the case. If you are not initially forthcoming and they later find information to the contrary, this can harm your case. After the interview is complete, the attorney will ask for all medical records related to the injury as well as documents about your medical history. The personal injury attorney in Los Angeles will review the documents and determine how to proceed.

Making a Demand and Negotiations

At this point, the personal injury attorney will have a clear idea whether to drop the case, settle or file a lawsuit. Smaller personal injury cases are usually settled outside of court. Your personal injury attorney will file a demand with the other party's insurance company or corresponding attorney.  A lawsuit will be filed without question if the incident caused permanent injury or impairment. These types of cases will take longer especially when waiting for you to reach maximum medical improvement. The payout is much larger in this instance and will prevent the jury from undervaluing the case if you have not recovered entirely by the time the case goes to court.

Lawsuit

A personal injury claim can take one to two years after being filed before going to trial. The first six months to a year will consist of both attorneys collecting depositions, interrogations, and any relevant documentation. The amount of time spent on discovery depends on the complexity of the case.

Mediation and Trial

Los Angeles personal injury attorney will attempt mediation with the rival attorney first. If a settlement cannot be reached they will bring a mediator that will attempt to come to a settlement between both clients and both personal injury attorneys. When mediation does not work, the case will go to trial. The trail can last days, weeks or months depending on the court, judge, and case.