Who is Liable for Personal Injuries on School Property?

You were shocked when you got the call. You thought they were safe when they were on campus, but then the unexpected happened. No parent wants to hear their child was hurt at school, and no parent should. But accidents sometimes happen. It’s the school’s responsibility to minimize the risk of injury to your child.

Duty of Care

When you send your child to school, you are authorizing teachers and administrators to act in loco parentis, in place of the parent. This means that they have the responsibility to take any reasonable precautions to prevent harm to your child. It is the school’s duty to provide an environment for children that is as safe as it can conceivably be.

However, sometimes accidents can occur. They may just be accidents, or they could have been preventable. When school administrators neglect their duty to protect your child, they should be held responsible.

Injuries Your Child Could Receive

Every once in awhile, you heard about something on the news but never expected it to happen to you. Maybe it was a school bus accident, or even something as serious as a natural disaster. Whatever it may be, the school should take precautions to protect your student.

Unintentional Injuries
Most often, the accidents that occur are unintentional. Common examples may be a student slipping on wet flooring, falling off playground equipment, or even a school bus accident.

While it’s true that some of these could simply have been an unavoidable accident, there are also times when administrators could have done something to prevent this. Was there a ‘wet floor’ sign posted near the puddle in the hallway? Was the playground equipment properly maintained or did it break? Had the bus driver been through the appropriate training or maybe there was a malfunction in the bus itself? It all goes back to reasonable precautions.

Intentional Injuries
Bullying is a serious problem in many schools. If the administrators knew that a group of students were involved in a bullying incident and did nothing to stop it, then they could be held liable for injury to your child.

Another example of intentional injury is abuse. The idea that anyone could possibly abuse a child is repulsive, but it does happen. The school is responsible for screening employees to ensure that the children are safe. However, if prior evidence of abuse came up in the background check of a school employee, but the person was hired anyway, the school could be held liable. But if the school didn’t know ahead of time, the individual themself would be held liable for any injury to your child.

Disasters
Most schools have procedures in place to protect your child from harm in case there is a fire, storm, or active shooter in the area. However, if the school fails to activate these procedures when there is a clear risk, the school could be held liable for your child’s injury.

Steps to File Your Lawsuit

The first step to opening your lawsuit is consulting a qualified attorney. Monsour Law Firm offers complimentary consultations, so you can talk to a lawyer for free.

After you have spoken to a lawyer, you may need to gather evidence to support your case, and we’re here to help. Witness statements, photographs, security camera footage, and your child’s medical records may all be used in a trial to determine liability for the injury.

Talk to a lawyer at Monsour Law Firm today to get started on your personal injury case.