Child Injuries

For any new parent, one needs to accomplish the task of finding good daycare for when they’re at work or when the child is not at school. Some parents also try to fill this in with after school programs that will provide extracurricular activities while providing supervision for a time. As an attorney from Eric Roy Law Firm who specializes in child injuries can explain, as it is with any other everyday scenario, there is always a chance of injury during child care when the individual charged with the task is negligent. Granted, kids can get hurt no matter how closely they are watched, but when the injury is a result of negligent supervision then the caregiver could be held liable.

Negligence results when another person fails to act in a situation and someone is hurt as a result. While a judge is unlikely to take a case for a bump on the head or a paper cut. There are far worse injuries that can result from negligent supervision including: Severe allergic reactions from foods served as a failure to request a list of food allergies, failing to intervene when a child is repeatedly bullied resulting in injury, slipping and falling on hazards in the “domain” of the caregiver (which is a slip and fall case in itself).

Given the unpredictability of children, in a negligent supervision argument one must establish whether of not the injury was foreseeable and “unreasonable.” Say for instance if a 10 year old takes a shower in his own home before bed while the babysitter waits in the living room, if the child slips and breaks his or her arm then the caregiver can’t be held liable because it’s perfectly reasonable for a 10 year old child to be alone in the bathroom let alone while taking a bath or shower. Alternatively, if the caregiver is in the bathroom for some reason and says the railing holding the shower curtain falls directly on his head, the caregiver still can’t be held liable because they could never have anticipated the railing falling, that is, it is an unforeseeable event.

If it meets these criteria, then you must prove that the caregiver had a legal duty to care for and supervise your child, the caregiver failed to adequately supervise your child (“breaching” the “duty of care”) and your child was injured as a result of the caregiver’s action or inaction. Negligent supervision cases aren’t handled in the manner of a strict liability case because the unpredictability of children and their interaction with the world around them makes for the inclusion of variables that are outside of the caregiver’s control. That said, the makeup of a successful negligent supervision case emphasizes the ones that are.