As parents, we are hyper protective of our children, and it takes a lot to convince us to place the care of our child in the hands of others. When you enroll your child in a daycare or school, you are doing just that: creating a bond of trust between the facility and your family. A breach of this trust puts your child’s health, and well-being at stake. In these situations, you can file an injury claim to remedy the situation. A New York daycare negligence lawyer can help.
Call Buttafuoco & Associates for help: 1-800-NOW-HURT.
Types of Daycare and School Injuries
Slip and falls are common on playgrounds. For these accidents to qualify as an act of negligence, the facility would have to be liable for allowing a known hazard, such as a loose bar on a playground ladder, to cause your child’s fall.
Drops are a concern for parents who place their infants in daycare. If a worker dropped your child (e.g., if the worker was not holding your baby correctly and your baby fell), you may be eligible to file a claim against the worker or facility.
Physical, sexual, or verbal abuse toward a child is never acceptable. When the abuser is an adult, the adult and in many cases the employing facility are liable for allowing such misconduct to occur. When the abuser is another child, the liability, in this case, can be difficult to determine. The facility may still be liable if the staff knew about a child’s misconduct toward another, but failed to report or prevent the behavior.
If your child choked on food or a foreign object, the facility can be liable if daycare workers left a child unattended with food large enough to pose a choking hazard. The same applies to facilities that leave small objects within reach of young children.
Exposure to dangerous substances is a very preventable situation that daycares and schools can easily prevent. Facilities that fail to lock up toxic chemicals or clean up hazards before children can get to them can be liable for the damages done by these substances.
Lack of supervision can result in a child wandering away from the facility and into dangerous areas such as nearby roads. Failure to monitor children and prevent them from leaving the premises unattended are grounds for a liability claim.
Injuries perpetrated by an outsider such as a stranger wandering onto the daycare premises and kidnapping a child are extreme violations of the facility’s duty of care. The premises should have a strict policy of keeping strangers out, and a screening process for assessing the safety of visitors.
Drowning is a concern for facilities with pools or those near water features, as well as facility-sanctioned field trips. If the drowning takes place on the facility’s premises, the facility can be liable, but if the drowning takes place offsite such as at a public pool, liability might also lie with the pool and its staff.
Unsafe facility conditions can include anything from hazardous cribs and cots to illness-causing mold growth on walls and in air vents. When the facility knew about these conditions and failed to manage them, you can hold the facility liable for any injuries or illness.
A Parent’s Right to Seek Damages
Parents or guardians of injured children have the right to seek compensation on behalf of their child. Serious or fatal injuries that cause long-term consequences for a child might allow parents to seek special damages beyond medical costs. A serious injury to a child or loss of a child’s life may entitle the family to:
- Parents’ lost income
- Emotional damages
- Funeral expenses
- Long-term care costs
- Loss of enjoyment of life
- Lost earning capacity
The legalities of an injury claim against a daycare or a school can be difficult, especially for schools run by local government. Your case will benefit greatly from the help of a New York personal injury lawyer.
Buttafuoco & Associates strives to help New York families recover from tragedy and return to their lives. Contact us at 1-800-NOW-HURT to schedule a free case review.
