When the temperatures rise and the heat becomes almost unbearable, the only thing that usually helps is a dip in the cool water.
For a 22-year-old man, however, the jump ended badly. Once once more “Tages-Anzeiger» reported, he injured himself so badly in the Oberrieden swimming pool in July 2013 that he has been paralyzed from the fifth cervical vertebra down since then.
He jumped from a jetty into the lake 60 centimeters above the water surface and hit the 1.1 meter deep water.
The municipality relied on the personal responsibility of the bathers
The man blamed the municipality of Oberrieden ZH for his accident and demanded compensation of CHF 30,000 from her. However, the community as the operator of the pool was of the opinion that personal responsibility applies when jumping.
However, the young man did not want to be satisfied with that and in 2018 appealed to the municipality of Oberrieden before the district court of Horgen.
Although the court attributed part of the blame for his accident to the man, he was ultimately right and awarded him compensation of CHF 34,500, which the municipality had to pay for.
Both the Supreme Court and the Federal Court agreed with the victim
However, the latter appealed the verdict and took the case to the Supreme Court. But even this and later the Federal Court did not deviate from the judgment of the District Court. So Oberrieden definitely has to pay now.
The Federal Supreme Court justified its judgment with the fact that the bridge had a so-called work defect. The explanation of the community that the jetty is not intended for jumping was not enough for the court. In addition, the community knew that visitors to the pool jump from the jetty into the lake, sometimes headfirst.
The court came to the conclusion that Oberrieden might have done more to warn of the dangers of jumping off the jetty.
According to mayor Martin Arnold, it was assumed that bathers knew the rules, followed them and took responsibility themselves. It is actually clear that the lake at the accident site is not deep.
The sign and warning line are intended to prevent bathers from jumping
Oberrieden has now learned the lessons from the case and installed a warning sign on the jetty. A thick red line was also painted on the right side of the bridge.
The bathroom staff has also been instructed to keep a watchful eye on the jetty. However, Arnold cannot rule out further accidents. “On nice summer days we have 1000 people in the lido”. It might quickly lead to a violation of the rules, according to the mayor. (ced)