As parents, we expect our children to be safe at school, where they are supervised by teachers and other school officials. However, data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows that nearly 4 million students are injured in school accidents each year in the United States. In most of these school accidents, the negligence of school personnel is to blame for the injuries our children suffer. It is important that they are held accountable for the harm they cause.

The Legal Perspective on a School’s Duty to Your Child

Schools have a legal obligation to take care of their child. This means that they have a duty to do everything they can to protect your child from any foreseeable form of injury, harm, or death. To meet this obligation, they must provide adequate supervision of children in the school building, on school grounds, on school buses, and on any premises where children are participating in a school-sponsored extracurricular activity.

When a school official fails to act responsibly to ensure the safety and welfare of the children in his or her care, the situation is considered negligent. Generally, a school that acts negligently will be held responsible or liable for the harm caused to a child in its care. When parents seek compensation from the school, they can seek compensation for the cost of the child’s medical treatment, medical expenses, and pain and suffering that the child suffered as a result of the school’s negligence. If a child is permanently disabled as a result of a school accident, he or she may seek compensation for future medical expenses and lost wages.

The following types of school injuries can occur:

  • Slip and fall accidents occur when a child loses balance on a slippery gym floor due to snow or ice or lack of handrails on stairs.
  • Sports injuries occur when your child is injured due to poor maintenance of sports equipment, inadequate supervision, or poor quality coaching at school.
  • Playground injuries are caused by defective playground equipment, poorly maintained school grounds, or lack of adult supervision.
  • School bus accidents result from poor maintenance or driver error.
  • Injuries at school crossings when crossing guards are not vigilant enough to protect children at crossings and roads near the school.
  • Injuries are caused by bullying at school or by a fight with other students on the playground or the school bus.
  • Food poisoning is caused by improper food preparation or storage in school kitchens.

Types of School Injury Claims

When school officials fail to properly care for and protect the children entrusted to their care, they may face one of the school accident lawsuits listed below:

  • When children are injured due to inadequate adult supervision, they can file a negligent supervision claim.
  • Gym injury claims can be brought if a child was injured by a slippery gym floor or defective gym equipment.
  • When physical altercations occur on campus, student-on-student assaults occur.
  • Claims result from accidents at street crossings when crossing guards fail in their duty to monitor safe student crossings.
  • When students are injured on the school bus or at bus stops, they can file a school bus accident claim.

How Can You Pursue a School Accident Personal Injury Claim?

If a teacher or school staff member commits a malicious or wanton act against a child, such as sexual misconduct or assault, they can be sued individually. However, in other school injury cases that occur in public schools, the school administrator, principal, teacher, or coach cannot be held individually liable for injuries sustained by the child on school grounds or at a school-sponsored event. If you wish to file a school accident lawsuit for your child’s injuries, you must follow the steps outlined below. It is important to understand that these guidelines only apply to lawsuits against public schools, not private schools.

The statute of limitations in New York for actions against school districts is one year and ninety days from the date of the accident. Depending on the nature and complexity of the case, it may take one to three years to go to trial or settle. Make sure you have the best child injury claim lawyers in New York on your side if you want to pursue a strong case for damages against the responsible parties.

Prudent Teacher Doctrine in School Injury Cases

When a parent files a lawsuit for a school accident, courts use the ‘Prudent Teacher Doctrine’ as a guide to determine if the teacher was negligent and therefore liable for the child’s injuries in a school accident. In this case, several important factors are considered to determine whether or not there were systems in place to prevent foreseeable injuries. This includes whether or not the school administration or teachers had knowledge of dangerous conditions that could have resulted in an injury. The overall plan for the protection and supervision of students at the school, as well as the actions taken by the teacher to provide appropriate care or prevent harm, will be closely examined.

Who Is Responsible for School Bus Accidents?

Aside from injuries on school grounds, children are also at risk of being injured in accidents involving the school bus in which they are riding. If the accident was caused by the carelessness of the school bus driver, the school may be held liable for the student’s injuries. The other driver who was involved in the accident because he or she was speeding or ran a red light while crossing a school zone may also be held liable. If the school bus accident was caused by a mechanical defect in the bus, the bus manufacturer or the entity responsible for inspecting and maintaining the bus may be held liable.

Get in Touch with The Best Child Injury Claim lawyers Today

When you send your child to school, you implicitly trust that the school’s systems will keep your child safe. When that trust is violated, it is important that you hold the school responsible for the harm it has caused. Making a claim for compensation for school accidents is very different from any other type of personal injury claim. Most parents lack the resources to prove that the school is directly responsible for their child’s injuries. Public schools are government entities, and such entities and their employees are immune from lawsuits. Nevertheless, pursuing such claims is not an impossible task, despite the special deadlines and procedural requirements in such cases. Having an experienced and knowledgeable school accident attorney on your side can make a significant difference in the amount of compensation you can recover.

Your-Personal Injury Lawyer | Willie Boaz, Esq

The best child injury claim lawyers at Your-Personal Injury Lawyer have assisted several parents whose children were injured at school or on the school bus in recovering the compensation to which they are entitled. Call Your Personal Injury Lawyer today at 646-666-1568 or contact us online for a free and confidential consultation to learn how we can help you do the same.