With children spending a sizeable portion of their days at School, it is perhaps not a surprise to learn that many child injuries actually occur in the classroom or on the schoolyard. When a child is hurt at school, though, it can create a complicated situation of liability. Who should be financially responsible for paying for any medical treatment the child might need: the school, the parents, or a third-party? The answer will not likely be straightforward and will depend heavily on the circumstances.

Negligence or Intent in Child Injury Cases

Children are constantly running around, exploring, and generally testing their limits – it is part of growing up. With this natural inclination to disregard danger, children can and do get hurt. A child Injury that occurs at school might not trigger any sort of liability issues unless it is proven that the action that hurt the child was intentionally carried out by another, or was not prevented due to school staff negligence.

The focus of any investigation into what happened to your child will need to begin on the how and why. There are many schoolyard child injuries that could go either way, depending on the situation. For example, if child suffers a serious illness from food poisoning, the school could be liable if the chef has a history of bad hygiene in the kitchen; if this is a one-time incident and the source of the food poisoning is unknown, it might be difficult to pursue liability.

Child Injuries from Bullying

Bullying is one of the primary sources of child injury at school. In many cases, liability might be split up between the school and the bully’s parents. Particularly harmful or violent bullying incidents are not typically the first time a child lashes out. School officials and administration staff are generally aware of a troublesome student, and should make an effort to monitor that child. Likewise, parents should discipline a child that is known to be bullying others before significant harm is done.

If there is no sign that either the parents of the bully or the school officials attempted to protect your child from harm, liability could fall on each of them in separate claims. This could potentially make it easier for you to collect due compensation without hitting an insurance cap.

If you need to file a child injury lawsuit in West Virginia, Berthold Law Firm, PLLC and our personal injury lawyers can be of assistance. With 40+ years of total legal experience and a case result history padded by tens of millions of dollars recovered for our clients, we are confident we can approach your case with the professionalism and compassion it requires. Contact us or call 304.605.2040 to schedule your own free case evaluation.