My son broke his wrist at school Friday and I did not get a call from a teacher or school to let me know what happen. What can I do or do I have a case against the school? ...

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My son broke his wrist at school Friday and I did not get a call from a teacher or school to let me know what happen. What can I do or do I have a case against the school?

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DakotaLegal's picture

 

 
 
Think of this injury as two different questions: (1) what caused the injury and (2) what did the school do about it? The school may have legal liability for one, both, or neither of these questions.
 
One of the first things I always urge people to do in these kinds of situations is to focus exactly on what your complaint is. Next, get evidence to prove that complaint. Finally, you need to show what the costs, consequences, or harm can be proved. I happen to agree that it’s awful you weren’t contacted. However, this does not immediately translate into a legal claim. On the other hand, there is a reason to believe that there must be some sort of written procedures, within both the school and in the school district, explaining what the school promise it will do in case of an injury. Legal liability or not, you should pursue this.
 
One block to a lawsuit may be Illinois schools’ limited immunity from being sued. http://www.ancelglink.com/publications/TortImmunityHandbook.pdf. The bottom line is...don’t delay.
 
You may be eligible to get free legal help. http://www.illinoislegalaid.org/.But if your case is a classic tort case, it is usually worth while to also get free consultations (make this clear) from several tort lawyers (preferably, get one who specializes in suing government agencies). You get a referral to such a specialist from the Illinois state bar: http://www.isba-lawyers.com/why-you-need-a-lawyer/?gclid= CNedlqqgpLMCFY6DQ godKBAAMw.
 
You will want to ask for the School district’s written safety procedures. All of your contact with the school and other professionals involved should be copied and organized by date in a file folder. Receipts and bills for treatment and medicines should be kept in another folder. I suggest you get a journal along with notes of health issues, days missed from school (or work in your case), discomfort, therapy, and the physical limits this has caused your child.
 
Also, a few questions to clear up: did the school have your correct contact information in case of an emergency? In other words, be ready to anticipate what defenses to their not calling you, which they may have. The age of the child may even be an issue. Did your child say that you could not be contacted, or that he was “okay” and didn’t need any help? Let’s stay on the assumption the school did not try to get hold of you, and they had your correct phone number. Here’s a case where an Illinois school didn’t call a parent, and then tried to argue, after being sued, that it couldn’t be sued for the injuries that followed. http://caselaw.findlaw.com/il-supreme-court/1064358.html.
 
If any court is going to become involved, through a lawsuit, they will eventually look at this with one question: what are the damages? This goes back to the idea of two possible areas of negligence by the school:
 
(1) allowing conditions that caused the accident;
(2) failing to properly respond to the injury.
 
Even a six hour delay in getting treatment will spell trouble for the school. Depending on the seriousness of the injury, and how much pain the child suffered as a result of the delay, the amount of pain and suffering may end up convincing a jury that it was fairly serious. The keys may be what you can describe as the pain you saw, what the child is able to say, and what experts will testify to. One example of proving serious lapses in the school’s judgement will be this question: “When you first learned of the injury, what did you do?” If you immediately went to the ER, this helps prove the point of the school’s incompetence.
 
By now, you will also have gotten a lot of written information about the injury itself. If you can get pictures of where the accident happened, and have photos of the injury, that’s good. If it was a defective swing set, for example, the school may fairly quickly change the condition. There may be another party that’s also possibly liable. You’ll want to know that, and photos can be powerful evidence.
 
Talk with your child’s treating physician. A key will be how obvious was the break to your child’s wrist? Many doctors, for many reasons, are reluctant to get involved with a lawsuit. So, if the doctor clearly says it should be obvious there was a break, then you have a good case. In turn, this will raise what kind of medical treatment was given at the school. Do they typically have a nurse available? The injury may well speak for itself, too. A terrible break, with obvious signs of bones grinding or breaking through the skin, will leave the school in a possibly weak position.

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DakotaLegal's picture

 

 
 
Think of this injury as two different questions: (1) what caused the injury and (2) what did the school do about it? The school may have legal liability for one, both, or neither of these questions.
 
One of the first things I always urge people to do in these kinds of situations is to focus exactly on what your complaint is. Next, get evidence to prove that complaint. Finally, you need to show what the costs, consequences, or harm can be proved. I happen to agree that it’s awful you weren’t contacted. However, this does not immediately translate into a legal claim. On the other hand, there is a reason to believe that there must be some sort of written procedures, within both the school and in the school district, explaining what the school promise it will do in case of an injury. Legal liability or not, you should pursue this.
 
One block to a lawsuit may be Illinois schools’ limited immunity from being sued. http://www.ancelglink.com/publications/TortImmunityHandbook.pdf. The bottom line is...don’t delay.
 
You may be eligible to get free legal help. http://www.illinoislegalaid.org/.But if your case is a classic tort case, it is usually worth while to also get free consultations (make this clear) from several tort lawyers (preferably, get one who specializes in suing government agencies). You get a referral to such a specialist from the Illinois state bar: http://www.isba-lawyers.com/why-you-need-a-lawyer/?gclid= CNedlqqgpLMCFY6DQ godKBAAMw.
 
You will want to ask for the School district’s written safety procedures. All of your contact with the school and other professionals involved should be copied and organized by date in a file folder. Receipts and bills for treatment and medicines should be kept in another folder. I suggest you get a journal along with notes of health issues, days missed from school (or work in your case), discomfort, therapy, and the physical limits this has caused your child.
 
Also, a few questions to clear up: did the school have your correct contact information in case of an emergency? In other words, be ready to anticipate what defenses to their not calling you, which they may have. The age of the child may even be an issue. Did your child say that you could not be contacted, or that he was “okay” and didn’t need any help? Let’s stay on the assumption the school did not try to get hold of you, and they had your correct phone number. Here’s a case where an Illinois school didn’t call a parent, and then tried to argue, after being sued, that it couldn’t be sued for the injuries that followed. http://caselaw.findlaw.com/il-supreme-court/1064358.html.
 
If any court is going to become involved, through a lawsuit, they will eventually look at this with one question: what are the damages? This goes back to the idea of two possible areas of negligence by the school:
 
(1) allowing conditions that caused the accident;
(2) failing to properly respond to the injury.
 
Even a six hour delay in getting treatment will spell trouble for the school. Depending on the seriousness of the injury, and how much pain the child suffered as a result of the delay, the amount of pain and suffering may end up convincing a jury that it was fairly serious. The keys may be what you can describe as the pain you saw, what the child is able to say, and what experts will testify to. One example of proving serious lapses in the school’s judgement will be this question: “When you first learned of the injury, what did you do?” If you immediately went to the ER, this helps prove the point of the school’s incompetence.
 
By now, you will also have gotten a lot of written information about the injury itself. If you can get pictures of where the accident happened, and have photos of the injury, that’s good. If it was a defective swing set, for example, the school may fairly quickly change the condition. There may be another party that’s also possibly liable. You’ll want to know that, and photos can be powerful evidence.
 
Talk with your child’s treating physician. A key will be how obvious was the break to your child’s wrist? Many doctors, for many reasons, are reluctant to get involved with a lawsuit. So, if the doctor clearly says it should be obvious there was a break, then you have a good case. In turn, this will raise what kind of medical treatment was given at the school. Do they typically have a nurse available? The injury may well speak for itself, too. A terrible break, with obvious signs of bones grinding or breaking through the skin, will leave the school in a possibly weak position.