Stephen Schultz | October 11, 2024 | Personal Injury
The St. Louis Zoo has brought fascination and joy to children and adults alike for more than a century now. Nevertheless, no activity is completely risk-free, and people do get hurt there from time to time. If you do get hurt, it’s important that you know just how to react. If you’ve suffered an injury and you suspect that someone else may be responsible, your first course of action should be to contact a reputable St. Louis personal injury lawyer.
Types of Accidents
Below is a very abbreviated list of the kinds of accidents that can happen at the St. Louis Zoo:
- Animal attacks (rare but possible)
- Construction accidents, if construction is going on at the zoo
- Equipment malfunction due to defective manufacturing or inadequate maintenance
- Exposure to hazardous chemicals used to maintain the premises
- Falling objects, such as tree limbs or signs
- Food poisoning from drinks or foods sold in the zoo
- Heat exhaustion, especially in the summer
- Slip and fall accidents from wet or uneven surfaces
- Violent crime
- Zoo vehicle collisions with pedestrians
A full list of possible accidents would number in the hundreds.
What to Do In Case of an Accident
What you do in the hours and days following your accident can drastically affect the value of your claim. Take the following actions:
- Call zoo staff for first aid. Zoo staff can also call 911 for you.
- Use your phone to photograph anything that you might be able to use as evidence. When in doubt, photograph it.
- Obtain phone numbers and other contact details for any witnesses. Remember that zoo staff witnesses are likely to be biased in favor of their employer.
- Ask the zoo to create a written accident report and send you a copy.
- Create your own “accident report” while the details of the accident are still fresh in your mind. You can use this as evidence later.
- Go to the hospital as soon as you can, even if you don’t think you are seriously injured.
If your injuries prevent you from taking all of these steps yourself, whoever accompanied you to the park might be able to take them.
Possible Legal Basis of Your Personal Injury Claim
You might file your personal injury claim on one of the following legal bases:
- Premises liability (a dangerous condition on zoo property)
- Intentional tort (a crime committed against you by a zoo guest, for example)
- Negligent security (failure to hire sufficient security staff to prevent crimes, for example)
- Negligence: Reckless driving by a zoo employer, failure to maintain zoo exhibits leading to an accident, for example)
- Product liability (a defective product)
- Workers’ compensation (if you are a zoo employee)
These are not your only options. Work with your lawyer to determine how to frame your claim.
Respondeat Superior
Under Missouri law, in most situations, you have the right to hold an employer accountable for the actions or misconduct of their employees while those employees are performing their job duties. This legal concept is known as vicarious liability, or respondeat superior, which means “let the master answer.”
In practical terms, if an employee at a business, such as a zoo, acts negligently or engages in misconduct while on the job, and this results in harm to another person, the employer may be held liable for the employee’s actions. For example, suppose a zoo employee fails to follow proper safety protocols when handling animals, and this negligence leads to a visitor’s injury. In that case, the injured party may have grounds to sue the zoo itself—not just the employee—for damages.
Sovereign Immunity and Claims Against the Government
The Zoological Board of Control, a subdivision of the City of St. Louis, owns the Saint Louis Zoo. That makes the zoo a government entity, and it means you have to overcome special hurdles to file a lawsuit. You must file a Notice of Claim within 90 days of the accident, for example, and your damages cannot exceed $300,000 per person. These restrictions probably don’t apply if you are suing a defendant other than the zoo.
Possible Defendants
Following is a list of possible defendants in a personal injury lawsuit against the St. Louis Zoo:
- The zoo itself
- A zoo guest
- A zoo employee or contractor
- A third-party vendor or service provider
- The manufacturer or designer of a defective product or exhibit
Talk to your lawyer to identify other potential defendants.
Settlement
You will probably end up settling your claim out of court instead of going to trial. That means you’re going to need to negotiate. You don’t need to “go it alone” against the zoo’s in-house lawyers. Instead, hire your own lawyer and let them handle negotiations for you.
Schedule a Free Initial Case Consultation With a Lawyer
If you’ve suffered an injury and you suspect that someone else may be responsible, your first course of action should be to contact a reputable St. Louis personal injury lawyer. An experienced attorney should be able to identify the legal basis for your claim, work around sovereign immunity barriers, and negotiate a generous settlement. Under the contingency fee system that almost all personal injury lawyers use, you only pay attorneys’ fees if you win.
Contact the St. Louis Personal Injury Lawyers at Schultz & Myers Personal Injury Lawyers
If you’ve been injured, please contact the attorneys at Schultz & Myers Personal Injury Lawyers at the nearest location to schedule a free consultation, we proudly serve all throughout Missouri, including St. Louis County and Boone County and we have offices in St. Louis, Ladue, Columbia, Creve Coeur.
Schultz & Myers Personal Injury Lawyers – St. Louis Office
1430 Washington Ave Ste 225
St. Louis, MO 63103
(314) 444-4444
Open 24 hours
