Atlanta Child Injury Lawyer
If your child suffers an injury due to another person’s negligence, the Atlanta child injury lawyers at Cruz & Associates can help you and your child get the compensation necessary to recover. Whether faulty playground equipment, inadequate supervision, or simple caregiver negligence caused your child to suffer, we can help ensure it doesn’t happen to someone else’s child.
Determining fault can be more complicated in cases with child injuries than other Atlanta personal injury cases because children don’t have the same burden of responsibility as adults. Generally, liability comes down to who was caring for your child and their burden of responsibility.
Lack of Supervision Leading to Injury
Sometimes, children suffer injuries because there is a lack of supervision at a friend’s house, school, daycare, or another location outside the home. When parents entrust their child with a caregiver, be it a school or a nanny, that caregiver owes both the child and the parent a duty of care. If the person who is supervising behaves irresponsibly and a child sustains injuries as a result, the courts could find the teacher, babysitter or daycare worker responsible – as well as the entity that hired him or her.
Can I Sue a Public School for My Child’s Injuries?
Because of the time that children spend at school, injuries in or around schools are not uncommon. These injuries can occur in a multitude of ways. Suing a school for your child’s injuries can be challenging because the government funds them, and lawsuit against government agencies are notoriously tricky. However, there may be a case where it is apt. A few ways children suffer injuries at school include where the school may be at fault include:
- Bullying. If children suffer injuries because of bullying at school, the school may be responsible for not providing a safe environment.
- Faulty equipment. If children incur injuries due to faulty playground equipment or poorly maintained schools, the school may be responsible. However, in these cases, the manufacturer or the equipment or construction company who built the school may shoulder the blame.
- Lack of proper supervision. The school district could be liable for not sufficiently vetting or training those they hire. Be it an abusive coach or negligent preschool care, the school is ultimately responsible for the people they hire to watch children.
The courts may consider injuries at school neglect if the school did not uphold its duty of care to the children. Because the school’s duty also extends to hiring people, incidents where a staff member is being negligent could leave the school district liable. For example, the school may be responsible for bus accident if no one properly trained the driver. However, if the bus’s maintenance was the problem, the company that cares for the buses might be responsible. Likewise, an injury on the playground the school failing to maintain safe playground equipment, but it also could be a defective piece that failed and lead to an injury.
If the injury happened at a private school, the claim may be against the school as an organization, but, like in the examples from public schools, there may be other organizations at fault.
Contact Our Atlanta Child Injury Attorneys
If your child suffered an injury because of another person or an organization’s negligent actions, you may be able to file a lawsuit. Doing so will help you recover medical bills and lost wages from caring for your child, but it could also prevent the same injuries from happening to another innocent child. If you believe you have a claim on your child’s behalf, contact our injury attorneys for a FREE initial consultation (404) 444-1111.