- Personal Injury
Most parents have seen their child come home with the occasional accidental broken arm or scrapped knee from playing on the playground.
While some of these injuries may be as innocent as the child who suffered from them, some others need legal attention. This is the case because the schools have a responsibility to parents to provide their wards with safe environments. When schools fail to provide these, and it causes a child to suffer an injury, parents can explore every legal option at their disposal.
Before you lawyer up and start the process, it’s always good to understand what must have caused the injury. This can only be done by talking to your child. When you speak to your child, you’ll know if the injury was caused by someone else or their own carefreeness. When a child suffers injury at the hands of someone, s/he may be reluctant about speaking openly about the situation.
The next thing to do is to get your pediatrician to work. Ask your child to tell the doctor what happened, especially when the child doesn’t want to speak to you. You should also tell your doctor about any suspicious circumstances.
The next thing to do is to speak with the school. In cases of abuse and violence, requesting that the school give an account is largely your decision to make. Draw similarities and differences between what your child says and what the school says. If you have lingering suspicions, you should contact an attorney. Attorneys like Wade Law have experience investigating cases like these and getting to the root of matters.
Can A Fayetteville Car Accident Lawyer Help?
You don’t have to be put off by the title. Being a car accident lawyer, this attorney has experience dealing with injuries; in fact, the bulk of their job as car accident attorneys is injuries. Their job is evaluating just how much damage was done and getting compensated accordingly by the insurance company.
Schools have a duty to care for their students. So as long as the students are on the school premises, in school transport arrangements, or extra curriculum activities, schools have a duty to protect and take care of children. As long as you can determine that injuries have been caused by the school’s negligence, you can be sure that the courts will rule in your favor.
Note that not all school injuries can be attributed to the school’s negligence, so it might be wise to not sue in cases like these. Some of these include accidents on the playground. Kids will be kids, they’ll play, and when they do, it’s only natural to have bruises occasionally. Many schools have staff patrolling playgrounds to help when kids need help, and this is the best many schools can offer.
What are your options?
You now have a lawyer who is ready to take your case, so how do you proceed from here? First, your attorney will get to know if the school is a private or public school. Schools have sovereign immunity, so they are treated as political subdivisions if they are public schools.
If the school is private, your attorney will likely sue the school directly, but if the school is public, your attorney will have to report the accident to the district. After filing a claim with the school district, your lawyer then files a lawsuit against the school. Since it’s treated as a government case, you have just between 60-90 days.
Is there a waiver?
In most schools, students are required to sign waivers acknowledging the risks before playing sports, and even though they are not legal documents, they can come handy when you have to file a claim. Ask your attorney to see how strong the document is and if it’s possible to poke through any available holes in the document.
Was it after school hours?
This one is quite tricky. You can get caught up in a legal mess if the injury was caused after school hours. If your child gets hurt on the playground on a Saturday, or if your child gets hurt on the playground after school hours, it’s highly possible that the school will not be held liable.
Here’s a Lawyer in Fayetteville you can Trust
Wade Law has experience handling many types of injury-related cases, and they’ll be available for consultation to know if a case is worth pursuing. Lawsuits involving injuries at school are very tricky, and you need a lawyer who knows the way around the law. You need a lawyer who knows the many loopholes and who is ready to take advantage of these to help you win the case, and Wade Law fits just well.
