Transferring the care of your child to someone else can be nerve-wracking, which is why most parents do much research when sending their child to a day care facility. However, children can be injured at day care nonetheless, even more so than if they were with you sometimes. In this case, you have the option of filing a lawsuit. There could be many defendants, including the person who caused the injury to your child, the staff members responsible for supervision, and the owners of the day care. But not all injuries make for successful injury lawsuits. If your child is injured, when should you call a personal injury lawyer? Here are a few things to consider:
Negligence Lawsuits
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When a child’s injuries are the result of an accident, you may be able to prove negligence against any individual who violated a reasonable standard of care when watching your child at the time he or she was injured. Negligence occurs when a person who owed a duty of care to another breaches that duty by acting below a reasonable standard of care in a given situation, causing injury.
When you leave your child at day care, the staff and owners of day care will owe a duty of reasonable care to your child while he or she is in their care. Any violations of this duty that cause injury may be grounds for a negligence lawsuit. These violations may include:
- Failing to supervise children properly.
- Maintaining unsafe premises.
- Committing a crime.
If the child’s injury was caused by another child, however, negligence will be harder to prove because children are held to a lower standard of what is reasonable. Still, children may still be liable for their negligent acts if it can be shown that the child failed to act as a “reasonable child” would have acted.
Intentional Torts
If your child’s injuries were the result of intentional conduct, such as assault or battery, a civil lawsuit may be an option. This is in addition to any potential criminal charges that may be brought.
Even in the absence of physical injuries, emotional distress may be sufficient for a damages award in cases where the defendant’s conduct was extreme or outrageous and the distress was severe.
If you have had your child be injured while at day care or are seeking compensation for injuries incurred at a childcare facility contact our law offices today. Your child may have been the victim and you and your family deserve just compensation. Our Austin personal injury attorneys offer free consultations.
