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When you send your children to school, daycare, extracurricular sports, or after school activities, you expect them to be properly cared for and supervised. However, sometimes those who are entrusted to care for children fail to properly supervise them, leading to accidents and injuries. If your child has suffered injuries due to the negligent supervision of a caretaker, you may be able to recover compensation.
What is Negligent Supervision?
In cases involving children, negligent supervision occurs when the caretaker fails to take reasonable measures to supervise the child for whom they are legally responsible. Caretakers may include teachers, babysitters, nannies, coaches, after-school instructors, and any others who had a duty to care for the child.
There can be any number of dangerous scenarios that may give rise to a negligent supervision claim - they can arise as a result of simply failing to watch a child closely and prevent them from doing something that would cause them harm. They can also arise from the failure to ensure a safe environment, provide playground or sports equipment free from defects, and the failure to employ enough staff to supervise. In some cases, injuries caused by the failure to properly train a caretaker can also establish a claim for negligence.
Proving a Negligent Supervision Case
If you've entrusted a caretaker who has a legal responsibility to care for and supervise your child and their failure to adequately do so caused them to sustain injuries, you may be able to pursue a legal claim for damages if certain criteria are met.
The Caretaker Failed to Reasonably Supervise the Child
There can be a number of factors a court would consider as to whether supervision was reasonable. Depending on the facts and circumstances of the case, a court may consider the age of the child, the type of activity they were engaged in, and whether the caretaker knew of any disabilities, physical or emotional conditions of the child. The caretaker must also have reasonably foreseen that an injury could take place if they failed to properly supervise.
The Failure to Supervise Resulted in Injury to the Child
If you are pursuing a negligent supervision claim in New York, it is not enough to allege that the caretaker was careless - injuries must have been sustained as a result of the inattention. Depending on the circumstances of the accident, negligent supervision can cause many different types of injuries to a child. Negligent supervision can result in emotional injuries, broken bones, lacerations, burns, sprains, strains, concussions, brain injuries, poisoning, paralysis, drowning, and fatality in severe cases.
The Child's Injuries Caused Monetary Loss
Negligent supervision injuries can be devastating to a child. Depending on the severity, they may also result in substantial medical costs and unreimbursed expenses for treatment, office visits, surgeries, counseling, and medications for which you may be entitled to an award of compensatory damages. Other damages, such as punitive damages, may also be awarded in certain cases.
Contact a New York Negligent Supervision Attorney
If your child suffered injuries due to the negligent supervision of a caretaker, you may be able to pursue a legal claim. It's important to contact a personal injury attorney immediately who can advise you of your legal rights as there are strict statutes of limitation in place to bring a claim - and shorter ones if your claim should be brought against a government entity, such as a public school. An experienced negligent supervision attorney can help you recover compensation for your child's injuries.
The Popick Law Firm has over thirty years of experience in obtaining compensation for victims of negligent child supervision. Located in Fresh Meadows, NY, The Popick Law Firm handles personal injury and auto accident cases in Queens, Brooklyn, Manhattan, the Bronx, as well as Nassau and Suffolk counties. Contact The Popick Law Firm today for a consultation.
