Trial Magazine

No longer confined to golf courses, golf carts are appearing everywhere in increased numbers all over the country, including airports, train stations, malls, schools, beaches, and gated communities. Despite this growth in popularity off the golf course, manufacturers sell tens of thousands of golf carts every year without installing basic safety features, such as seat belts, overhead handles, or roll bars.¹

According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), approximately 18,000 people were sent to emergency rooms for injuries sustained in golf cart incidents in 2015.² In a study by the Center for Injury Research and Policy, the number of cart-related injuries rose by a staggering 132 percent between 1990 and 2006.³ A major factor for this increase is that while golf carts are now more often found off the putting green, industry standards still define and design golf carts under the incorrect assumption that they are strictly used to transport people during the game of golf.

Take, for example, Bobbie, who was thrown from a golf cart while being transported back to her car after an evening concert hosted by the Houston rodeo. When the driver made a sudden turn, Bobbie fell out of the cart and landed headfirst on the parking lot pavement. The injuries she suffered left her in a coma for more than two years before she passed away. When a client comes to you with a passenger ejection case, make sure you are aware of a few key issues common to golf cart injuries.

Common Injuries

Passenger ejections often occur when a cart—which generally has a maximum speed of just under 20 mph on flat ground⁴—is turned to the side.⁵ When the cart is turned sharply to the left, for example, force tends to eject the passenger to the right side. Drivers are less likely to be injured because they can hold onto the steering wheel and anticipate a turn.

According to the CPSC, about 40 percent of all golf cart-related emergency room visits involve children under 16, with 50 percent of these injuries involving falls from moving carts.⁶ Industry safety standards—such as those from the International Light Transportation Vehicle Association and the American National Standards Institute—and manufacturer operating manuals do not contain occupant restrictions or include seat belt requirements, which make these carts especially dangerous for youth since children of any age are often permitted to ride in them.⁷

The most common golf cart ejection injuries seem to be fractures to arms and shoulders, as well as intracranial injuries such as concussions and hemorrhages. To help convey the extent of these injuries and why they can be so devastating, engage jurors’ attention with colorized X-rays, which can be admitted at trial through your medical expert as demonstrative evidence.

Causes of Action

Several claims such as negligence, failure to warn, and strict liability can be brought for golf cart ejection cases. Depending on the facts, a complaint may be filed against the driver and his or her employer, the cart owner, the premises owner, the golf cart distributor or seller, the cart manufacturer, and the cart modifier.

Pay special attention to specific industry standards as they apply to carts designed for two, four, or six passengers.⁸ A key question to consider will be whether the cart was modified post-fabrication and distributed by someone other than the manufacturer. Practitioners will frequently find that carts that have been stretched from a two-seat to a four- or six-seat configuration or otherwise modified fail to comply with the most basic standards.

Until manufacturers start installing safety features on golf carts, these incidents will continue to be a problem.

Other Key Issues

1. Insurance coverage issues may arise. Typical homeowners policies may exclude golf cart ejection injuries if the cart is considered a motor vehicle. However, we have successfully argued that carts are motor vehicles covered by general commercial insurance policies. For communities where home ownership includes movement via golf carts—such as those built around golf courses or beaches—additional coverage beyond basic homeowners insurance may be required.
2. Some local rules and ordinances specifically allow or prohibit golf carts from using public roadways. If a golf cart crash occurs on the road, a key issue will be whether the golf cart is classified as a motor vehicle—this will affect what state or local regulations apply, as well as general liability coverage questions.
3. Children under 16 may not be allowed to operate a golf cart pursuant to the operator manual. If they do, defendants will typically assert negligence or contributory negligence despite the manufacturer’s knowledge of ­foreseeable misuse.
4. Common defenses to anticipate are: contributory negligence—particularly in cases when the driver is under 16 and operating the cart against warnings in the operator manual; product modification by a third party; and claims that the golf cart is not a motor vehicle.

Additional Resources

1. Am. Nat’l Standards Inst., American National Standard for Golf Cars—Safety and Performance Specifications (Mar. 13, 2012), https://iltva.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/ANSI-ILTVA-Z130.1-2012-1.pdf.
2. For examples of legislation on golf carts, see Tex. Transp. Code Ann. §502.001(18) & §§551.401–405 (2015).
3. Whether the vehicle in use is a motor vehicle can be a key issue. See, e.g., Ryder Integrated Logistics, Inc. v. Fayette Cnty., 453 S.W.3d 922 (Tex. 2015) (government immunity is waived when an injury results from the use of a motor vehicle by a government employee); Bailey v. Netherlands Ins. Co., 615 F. Supp. 2d 1332, 1339 (M.D. Fla. 2009) (a crashed golf cart is not an “auto” and thus not covered by the insurance policy in question); LeLeaux v. Hamshire-Fannett Indep. Sch. Dist., 835 S.W.2d 49, 51 (Tex. 1992) (the school district wouldn’t have been liable for injuries caused by an employee, except in situations when a motor vehicle is being operated). 
4. The CPSC maintains the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System, which has searchable data on various product related injuries. Visit the database at https://tinyurl.com/yb5xqw7m.
5. AAJ offers Traumatic Brain Injury and Low Speed Impact Litigation Packets (www.justice.org/litigationpackets) with more resources on these topics.

Benny Agosto Jr. is a partner at Abraham, Watkins, Nichols, Sorrels, Agosto & Aziz in Houston. He can be reached at bagosto@abrahamwatkins.com.

Notes

1. See Kristopher Seluga & Timothy Long, Analysis and Prevention of Child Ejections From Golf Cars and Personal Transport Vehicles (2009), http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.599.9674&rep=rep1&type=pdf.
2. Tanya Mohn, The (Mostly) Safe Golf Cart, N.Y. Times (Mar. 4, 2017), http://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/03/04/business/retirement/the-mostly-safe-golf-cart.html.
3. Nationwide Children’s Hosp., First National Study to Examine Golf Cart-Related Injuries (June 10, 2008), www.nationwidechildrens.org/newsroom/news-releases/2008/06/first-national-study-to-examine-golf-cart-related-injuries.
4. See Caleb Amundson, Top 4 Legal Ways to Speed Up Your Golf Cart, Golf Cart Resource (June 23, 2017), https://golfcartresource.com/top-4-legal-ways-speed-golf-cart.
5. See Seluga, supra note 1, at 2.
6. Nick Draper, As Gas Prices Fluctuate, Some Talk About Cart Use, Jacksonville Journal Courier (July 12, 2015), www.myjournalcourier.com/news/54003/as-gas-prices-fluctuate-some-talk-about-cart-use.
7. Seluga, supra note 1, at 1; see also Am. Acad. of Pediatrics, New Research Shows Golf Carts Causing Serious Injuries to Children (Sep. 15, 2017), www.aap.org/en-us/about-the-aap/aap-press-room/Pages/New-Research-Shows-Golf-Carts-Causing-Serious-Injuries-to-Children.aspx.
8. Relevant standards may include those from the International Light Transportation Vehicle Association (https://iltva.org) and the American National Standards Institute (www.ansi.org), as well as product operator manuals.