Holding Daycares Accountable in Premises Liability Cases
Parents trust that daycares will care for their children appropriately. Unfortunately, there are times when daycare staff members neglect their duties and cause harm to a child. When a child is hurt in a daycare setting, it is crucial for parents to be able to hold daycares accountable. This accountability can come through a premises liability or personal injury claim.
Common Types of Injuries That Occur on Playgrounds in California
Children can sustain various types of injuries in a daycare setting. This includes, but is not limited to, the following:
- Cuts and scrapes
- Bruises
- Bites
- Concussions
- Severe traumatic brain injuries
- Broken or dislocated bones
- Dental injuries
- Internal organ damage or internal bleeding
- Poisoning
- Near-drowning or drowning
- Burn injuries
- Choking
- Suffocation
These injuries can occur in a wide variety of ways, both inside and around the daycare facility. Injuries can occur with incidents such as slip and falls, falls from heights, as a result of daycare provider abuse, injuries caused by other children, and by general premises liability negligence.
Holding Daycare Liable for Injuries
There are times when children will sustain injuries and nobody is at fault for the incident. However, daycare providers are responsible for closely watching children and taking all preventative steps to keep injuries from happening. This includes regularly inspecting and maintaining the daycare premises, adequately training daycare providers, and ensuring that there are enough staff members for the number of children present.
Failing to take preventative steps or a failure to report injuries when they occur could result in the daycare being held liable for injuries. In order to hold a daycare or daycare staff member responsible, it must be shown that they were negligent in their actions. Determining negligence and winning the claim involves:
- Showing that there was a duty of care established between the child and the daycare. This duty of care exists so long as the child is at a daycare license by the state of California.
- Establishing that there was a breach of duty by the daycare. A breach of duty can include any number of aspects, including allowing hazardous conditions to arise on the premises, staff members failing to attend to the needs of the child, daycare provider abuse, and more.
- Showing that the breach of duty led directly or indirectly to the child’s injuries or illness. For example, if a daycare provider failed to fix a broken playground equipment piece and this piece directly led to a child falling and breaking their arm, this will likely be enough to show that the breach of duty led to the injury. However, if a daycare provider is found to have unsafe premises, but it cannot be shown that a hazard directly caused an injury, it may not be possible to hold the daycare liable. In this case, the daycare provider should still be reported to the appropriate authorities.
- The final aspect of determining daycare provider negligence is showing that the injuries or illness the child sustained led to some sort of monetary loss. This can include medical bills, lost wages for a parent if they have to watch the child, pain and suffering damages, and more.
If you believe that your child was harmed due to the careless or negligent actions of a daycare provider in California, you need to reach out to a Sacramento personal injury lawyer immediately. These claims can be challenging, but an attorney can use their resources to fully investigate the incident to help ensure your child recovers the compensation the entire family needs to get through this.