Pokémon Go May Be Fun, But It Can Also Lead to Liability

by John Gomez | Last Updated: July 15, 2016

Every once in a while, something new takes the American culture by storm. Its popularity rings through to every age group, gender or just about any other demographic you can think of at the time. Sometimes these phenomena are songs, sometimes they are movies, and sometimes they are video games. It’s a video game that’s capturing the imaginations – and attention – of millions of Americans these days. Pokémon Go is that video game, and it’s becoming so popular so quickly that people are actually putting themselves and others in positions of unreasonable risk while playing. Some people are also putting themselves at risk of facing legal liability as a result of playing Pokémon Go. Below is a brief overview of the situation and some ideas to help you avoid facing a serious problem as a result of playing this game.

How Pokémon Go Works

For every person who is caught up in the wave of Pokémon Go, there are two or three others who are reading or hearing about it and wondering what all the fuss is about. Pokémon Go is a GPS-based video game that can be downloaded on your iPhone or Android. It’s so popular that after only about a week of being available free of charge, it has been downloaded more than 15 million times. That number is growing every day. The game works by having your GPS place Pokémon characters in areas near where you are at the time. Your job is to capture them, train them and then fight against other players. These characters can appear just about anywhere – on the sidewalk, behind buildings, etc.

Pokémon Go Accidents Reported

Given that there are millions of people running around chasing video game characters that appear randomly, it should be no surprise that there have already been reports of people being injured – sometimes seriously – as a result of playing this game. Walking around and playing Pokémon Go is the same as walking while extremely distracted in that you become a danger to yourself and to others. There have been reports of people leaving their vehicles or otherwise not paying attention while chasing a Pokémon Go character only to cause car accidents. In addition, one local story showed how two men were injured in Encinitas when they fell over a cliff and onto the beach while playing the game.

Pokémon Go and Potential Legal Liability

As can be seen, Pokémon Go is an incredibly popular game, and it’s even an active game in that it encourages players to go out and walk around. It’s also a dangerous game. People who are playing the game and who become distracted can cause pedestrian accidents, San Diego car accidents and they can injure themselves if they are not paying enough attention to their surroundings. If you’re playing Pokémon Go, enjoy yourself but use it safely and eliminate those dangerous environments. If you are one of the growing number of people who has been injured because of the negligence of someone who was playing Pokémon Go at the time, contact a San Diego personal injury lawyer at Gomez Trial Attorneys today to schedule a free initial consultation.

John Gomez

John Gomez founded the firm alone in 2005. Today, John acts as President and Lead Trial Attorney. He has been voted by his peers as a top ten San Diego litigator in three separate fields: Personal Injury, Insurance and Corporate Litigation. Since 2000, he has recovered over $800 million in settlements and verdicts for his clients with more than 160 separate recoveries of one million dollars or more. A prolific trial lawyer, John has tried to jury verdict more than 60 separate cases.

tell us about your case

no fees unless we recover money on your behalf