SCHOOL ACCIDENTS
What are my Rights if my Child is Injured at School?
School accidents refer to any mishaps or injuries that occur within educational institutions or on their premises. These may include slips, trips, and falls in the classroom, in the playground, or on the school bus. Other common accidents include injuries during sports or physical education classes and recess, burns and cuts during science experiments, and allergic reactions to food served in the cafeteria. To prevent these accidents, schools must enforce safety protocols, conduct regular inspections, and ensure that staff and students are adequately trained to handle emergency situations. Prompt medical attention should also be given to the injured students. If your child is injured at school, you have the right to hold the school responsible for the damages they have caused. Our personal injury lawyers have extensive experience handling school injury cases and can help you recover on behalf of your child.
How does a Lawsuit Against a School Work?
Depending on the cause of the injury to your child when at school, you may be able to sue the school district. California law imposes upon school districts a duty to carefully supervise students while they are on the school premises during the school day and districts may be held liable for injuries caused by the failure to exercise such care (See Hoyem v. Manhattan Beach City Sch. Dist. (1978) 22 Cal.3d 508. 513). Public employees, including schoolteachers, principals and administrators are liable for injury caused by their own acts or omissions to the same extent as a private person, and public entities, including school districts, are liable for injuries caused by acts or omissions of their employees within the scope of employment. (Cal. Govt. Code §§820(a) and 815(a).)
Government Code §835 provides the basis for liability in an action against a public entity such as a school for an injury caused by the dangerous condition of public property. Government Code §830(a) defines “dangerous condition” as “a condition of property that creates a substantial (as distinguished from a minor, trivial or insignificant) risk of injury when such property…is used with due care in a manner in which it is reasonably foreseeable that it will be used.” When analyzing whether a dangerous condition exists, a court must consider all of the circumstances surrounding the accident and look at all other relevant factors. Government Code § 830.2; see also Dolquist v. City of Bellflower (1987) 196 Cal.App.3d 261, at p. 271 (emphasis added).
How Do I Sue a School?
Taking legal action of any kind, including suing a school for injuries caused to your child can be complicated. There are many steps that need to be followed before a lawsuit is filed, and even more steps must be completed after. These steps include filing a government claim within six (6) months of the incident with the school district and obtaining relevant medical medical records and bills pertaining to your child's injuries, among many others. Although many of these steps can be completed without a personal injury attorney, often times people filing the forms on their own behalf may miss deadlines or omit important information that should have been included. For this reason, it is highly advisable that you consult our personal injury lawyers. Our personal injury attorneys will ensure that all of the required and advisable steps are met and will maximize your chance of winning your lawsuit.
What If I Have No Evidence?
Many people who have had children injured at school fail to take any action against school district because they believe that there is no evidence of negligence on the part of the school. However, our personal injury attorneys have various ways to obtain the evidence needed for your lawsuit. For example, we can request documents (including school safety protocols and policies and procedures, photographs, security footage if available, etc.) from from the school, subpoena witnesses to testify, and even take the deposition of the administrations and teachers of the school and question them about your child's incident. Very often there is more evidence than you might think exists, and this evidence can help strengthen your case.
Are There Deadlines for Filing a Lawsuit?
School accident cases have numerous deadlines that can come up fast, so it’s important that you speak to our personal injury attorneys as soon as possible. Generally speaking, schools are public entities you must often file a Government Tort Claim with the school district within six (6) months of the incident. Furthermore, if a rejection of the claim is received from the school district within forty five (45) days of filing the claim, from that point, the statute of limitations or deadline for filing a lawsuit is six (6) months. If the school you are suing is a private school and not a public entity, then the statute of limitations to file the lawsuit is two (2) years. Because of the many and complicated deadlines involved in a school accident case, it is important to retain a personal injury lawyer and file a lawsuit before the statute of limitations – or deadline – expires on any of your potential claims.
What Is My Case Worth?
Generally speaking, school accident cases have three types of damages: 1) economic, or special damages; 2) non-economic, or general damages; and 3) punitive damages. The value of your case depends in large part on these factors, as well as a fourth – liability.
Economic, or special, damages include payment for past and future medical expenses, and past and future lost earnings, among other types of losses. Non-economic, or general, damages include your pain and suffering. For example, if you injure your arm and require surgery, the pain and suffering stemming from the injury, the resulting surgery, and the loss of use of that arm while you’re recuperating, may be compensable as a non-economic injury. Non-economic damages also include loss of consortium – damages that the spouse of an injured person incurs, such as loss of companionship and support. Because you must prove that you sustained these damages, it’s important to get all medical treatment and psychological care that you need.
Punitive damages, although rare, exist to create a deterrent for other companies from behaving in a similar manner. To obtain punitive damages, you must show that clear and convincing evidence that the defendant acted with oppression, fraud or malice.
The last factor is liability. Every case has good facts and bad facts. The more good facts there are in your case, the more likely it is that you will win at trial, and the more likely it is that the defendant will pay more to settle the case. How do your attorney and the defendant's attorney discover good and bad facts? Through the discovery portion of the case, described above. This means that the value of a case can change as both good and bad facts are discovered throughout, and why a good personal injury lawyer can maximize the value of your case.
GET HELP NOW
Our personal injury attorneys have over a decade of experience fighting for the injured against the largest insurance companies in the country. Our office handles all manner of personal and catastrophic injury claims throughout California, including Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, Imperial, Ventura, Santa Barbara, and Kern counties. If you or a loved one has been injured, please contact our office for a free consultation.